


Curiosity Killed the Cat

by eClear



Category: Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Friendship, Magic, Night Raven College (Twisted-Wonderland), Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Ramshackle Dorm (Twisted-Wonderland)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 65,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29248701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eClear/pseuds/eClear
Summary: In the one hundred years that Night Raven College has been an established educational facility, there has not been a single error in who was deemed to have the potential to be a great wizard and the Ebony Carriage always brought them back.So of course in their one hundredth class, the Ebony Carriage not only brought back someone not from Twisted Wonderland, they were in there with a monster, didn’t have an ounce of magic, and also turns out, not a boy at an all-boys academy. However, there was one other thing that nobody would have guessed…She was a 27 year old stuck in her old 15 year old body.Upload plan: One chapter/Saturday.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 70





	1. Pulled Into Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> A personal take on Twisted Wonderland, in which the Prefect is not only female, but she was actually 27 going on 28 who’s body reversed back 12 years. Be warned, heavy spoilers ahead. 
> 
> Default name Yuu and own interpretation of MC is used. 
> 
> The quotes from the game are translated by myself and do not reflect any official translations.
> 
> Disney owns everything. Aniplex owns everything. F4samurai owns everything. I own absolutely nothing except for internal screams at every fangirl moment.

The sound of aircrafts preparing to take off rumble faintly in the background as a woman in her mid twenties hums to herself in the Narita Airport restroom. She looks at herself in the mirror - long brown hair in a low ponytail, brown eyes with prominent under eye bags from the lack of sleep, and tired cheeks that seem a little sunken from the sheer amount of work that she had to do before this day in contrast to the sun-kissed skin thanks to the summer months - stare back at her. She smiles a little as she begins to wash her hands in the sink below, barely keeping the desire to sleep at bay. Today was the day that she was leaving Japan and starting her next chapter of life in America. Her eyes traced the dainty golden chain around her neck, settling on fiddling with the small golden starfish with a single pearl in the middle of the necklace; she could hardly wait to see her parents’ reaction when she arrived back home in a mere nine hours or so. Her eyes briefly glance at her battery operated wristwatch.

‘Still got some time, maybe I’ll go get a bottle of green tea before boarding starts.’ She nonchalantly thinks as she spreads the foamed soap across her palms, careful to avoid the unfortunate hair curler burn on her left arm from a few days ago.

”Oh…my dearly beloved”

“Hm…? Is someone there?” Her hands stop as she hears a deep male voice speaking. The woman slowly turns around to see her surroundings, but this wasn’t a large bathroom, and the walls weren’t thick enough for conversations from the men’s restroom to seep through… or it shouldn’t be, at least. She shakes her head a little, thinking maybe perhaps she imagined that voice.

“The most beautiful, noble flower of evil. You are the most beautiful in the whole world.”

No, she definitely did not imagine that voice. She slowly turns off the sink faucet, slowly backing towards the back wall where she had placed her carry-on backpack. ‘Is this some sort of prank’, she thought as she slowly tore off a paper towel to dry her hands while simultaneously picking up her luggage.

“Mirror mirror, please show me, show me who is the world’s most…”

The tenor voice reckons again, as if to entice someone. She grips her backpack by the handles with one arm, as she checks the bathroom for a speaker of some kind. She was going to have serious words with the airline staff right outside, and hopefully they will grab whomever that decided to put such a distasteful prank in the women’s restroom of all places. Once all the stalls are checked, she glances back at the sinks and lets out a startled gasp. Both of the mirrors above the bathroom sinks were no longer reflecting the rest of the room, but instead were blackened with sickening green flames.

“One who is guided by the Mirror of Darkness, Take the hand that reaches forward to you, as you have desired.”

“Oh shit, HE--”

The second she was able to grasp that the voice was coming from the flaming mirror, a pale white hand with sharpened nails managed to wrap completely around her body, gripping with such force that her fingers gripping her backpack unclenched. She heard her backpack drop to the ground as she was pulled towards the mirror at such an alarming rate that she knew she was going to have a broken nose or worse. Instead, though she heard the loud crash of glass breaking all around her, she felt no pain. Instead, the eyes that she had instinctively screwed shut peel open, and next her eyes were as wide as saucers. She was being pulled down into a darkened abyss, pulled farther amongst the dancing green flames all around her. An unidentifiable scent grips her sense of smell, and she feels her consciousness slip away from her. As she fights a losing battle, the same tenor voice, with a tone that she akins to desperation, whispers by her left ear just as she gives in to the darkness,

“There’s hardly any time left- for you, me, them...for us all. Take care to not let go…”

* * *

The first thing that came back to her was that she could hear the sounds of hooves clopping the ground, and there was a rattling sound of perhaps containers being moved. The next thing she can acknowledge that she is currently laying down.

‘Why am I… wait... ‘ Her memory comes back to her slowly as her consciousness catches up, ‘why am I laying down..?’ She moved her arms out to the sides, but was only able to get to a fifteen degree angle before both her hands hit the sides of something wooden. As she ascertains that she must be stuck in one of the said boxes that she must’ve heard rattling earlier, she could also feel that there is something, with some sort of weight, on her stomach.

“Snap, people are going to start coming. I got to grab a uniform quickly”, a sort of raspy, higher but yet again male voice is speaking right above her.

“This lid is too heavy! “

‘Lid? Maybe he’s trying to get out as well, whatever he is,’ she thinks, much more calmly than she would have anticipated herself to be considering that she most likely was kidnapped. The memory of the cold, white hand wrapping around her entire body sends a shiver down her spine, but the voice seems to be paying no mind to her as it says,

“ Well, it’s time to bust out my special move! Funyaaaagh!!“

In that split second, multiple events occurred in rapid succession.

“!?!? FIRE!!”

First, was that along with the crashing sound of the lid bursting open, was the spread of open blue flames originating from right above her. She very nearly jumped out of the box that she was kept in, and the sight in front of her gave her another shock,

“Floating coffins?!”

“Te-gyaaaa! Why are you already up?!”

‘Are we in some sort of anti-gravity chamber? No, but my feet are on the ground,’ the second was that her eyes saw a large chamber, adorned with glamorous decorations and centralized with a large, black mirror with an ornate golden rim, and multitudes of coffins floating as if to ignore the laws of gravity.

“Hey! You’ve got some nerve ignoring me!”

“... Are… are you, talking?”

Third, was that there seemed to be the same voice shouting at her, and she is finally able to grasp that the about 70cm tall black raccoon-cat like creature with flaming blue ears and a triton tail was shouting at her indignantly.

“You’re in luck, human! Now, give me that uniform. Otherwise, I’m going to burn you to a crisp!”

His face donned a smirk as he took one paw forward, and her automatic reaction was one of shock as she glanced down and saw that she was not wearing the hoodie and leggings that she had on earlier, but a set of royal purple robes that were much, much too big for her, complete with golden embroidery on the sleeves, a purple sash that was way too low on her waist, and the hood so low on her eyes that she was surprised she as able to see as much as she did. ‘Did someone...change me out of my clothes?!’ The thought rushes through with an automatic reaction to flee from the area.

“Being threatened by a flaming raccoon cat, I don’t care if it’s a dream or not, that is gonna be a no thank you from me!”

“HEY WHO YOU CALLING A RACOON-DAZO! HEY!”

She wasn’t about to wait around for whatever that creature was to spit out fire, so she ran as fast as she could in the much too long robes. First she slammed the large double doors of the chamber, and ran as she barely acknowledged the long hallways, the courtyard with a strange well in the middle, and into another large room with a few floors at it seemed to her.

“Phone, phone...where’s a phone?! Shit!” She swears as she pats her body; though she felt the familiar necklace around her neck and her wristwatch on her left wrist, it seems she had literally nothing besides the too baggy clothes that were absolutely not her size, and as she felt the lining of her sports bra, she enjoyed the briefest moment of relief as it was the same one she could recall having on. Her eyes scan the dark room and rushes to what looks like a greeting desk that was illuminated in the moonlight, but was soon disappointed at the lack of a desk phone. Moreover, in the moonlight she was finally able to acknowledge that it seemed that, like the coffins that she had seen earlier, there were books that were ignoring the laws of gravity and floating around. A storage room, a library? Who knows.

“Hehe, you thought you could get away from my nose huh!? You dumb human. Now, if you don’t want to become extra crispy, you better hand over that unif--- YYOUCH!! What the, what is this string!?”

“That is not a ‘string’! That is a whip of love! Now, you’re one of this year’s new students, correct? You’re not supposed to leave the gate without permission.”

Suddenly, a man adorned in what can only be described as black and ornate suit complete with an over the top embroidered cape with black feathers as shoulder pads, appeared before her eyes and began to lightly chide her. The mask that he donned reminded her of a crow, and she took note of the large mirror point on his waist sash attached to multitudes of keys matched the smaller décor on this top hat. ‘He’d fit right in at a masquerade ball…’ she thought briefly as her eyes scan over to the small creature who had just threatened her earlier; he was now laying there as if he couldn’t move.

“Plus, bringing in an untrained familiar is strictly against academy rules.”

“Let me go! I’m not this human’s familiar-dazo!”

“Right right, all rebellious familiars say that mhm. Now, please hush and sit tight,” the man said exasperatedly as he ‘hushed’ the creature quite literally with his hand. With the creature secure in his arms and struggling to squirm, the man’s attention returns to her.

“Now. It’s simply unheard of that a new student would just leave the gate on their own! How impatient are you…” The raven-haired man, and quite frankly he is very reminiscent of a raven now that she had a few moments to observe this new individual, again chiding her about something or another.

“Now come, come. The entrance ceremony has already begun, we must go back to the Mirror Chamber”

“Wait...gate?”

It was all she could do to try and get a sense of what is going on. Student? Entrance ceremony? A gate?

“The room that you woke up in? It had quite a lot of gates hovering in the air as you know. All students entering the academy pass through the gate to enter the college. Usually the student is asleep until the gate is opened with a specialized key but...”

The raven man, as she dubbed him, continues to lecture as her gaze shifts towards the multitudes of keys hanging from his mirror décor. ‘Those must be the keys...then,’ she thought as she opened her mouth to speak,

“All those coffins...those were gates then…?”

“One says goodbye to the world they used to know, and are reborn anew- that’s the meaning imbued into each gate.” She couldn’t help but think that it was ironic as the man mentioned this - ironic that the item most commonly used for burying the dead was treated like a reset button. ‘Although, reincarnation could be gate so maybe…’, no she stopped her train of thought midway, this was not the time to go off tangents.

“Oh! This was no time for idle chatter. The entrance ceremony is going to end if we don’t hurry back. Come, come. Follow me.”

“Wait, no, who are you exactly?” She stops her feet though the man in front of her keeps moving a few steps forward. She was not about to follow some unknown man, who somehow has a whip that could effectively stun a creature, without at least knowing his name. Depending, she considered making a break for it somewhere, at least until she could find a usable phone.

“Hm? Are you okay, child? Is your consciousness a bit fuzzy still? Maybe the interdimensional transportation spell is muddling with your memories…” the man mutters as she conveniently tries to ignore the spew of words that just came out of those blackened lips.

“No matter, it happens frequently anyways. Fine, I shall explain while walking. Since I am so kind.” He smiles as he says this, and the smile wasn’t unsettling, and she doesn’t exactly have a grasp on where everything is, and thus she gives a deep sigh and proceeds to follow the man out of the room and out into the hallway. As their feet carry them through the courtyard, the man begins after a slight cough, as he promised not a few moments ago.

“This is the Night Raven College. This the most prestigious wizarding academy in all of Twisted Wonderland, where promising wizards from all around the world gather to study and learn magic. I am Dire Crowley, the principal and chairman of this fine establishment.“

‘Whoa whoa whoa… this is some, this is some fantasy world shit.’ She can barely contain her expression as she lifts the tip of her hoodie so that she doesn’t run into anything whilst walking.

“ W...wizards?” She gives herself a pat on the back mentally for not completely screaming at the man, Mr. Crowley, for spewing out what just seems like a load of looney bins. ‘This has got to be some sort of dream, no way...magic?’ As if paying no mind to his companion’s apparent confused state, Mr. Crowley continues his speech.

“Only those who have been specifically selected for their magical potential by the Mirror of Darkness are allowed to study here. Those who have been selected are then called forth from all around the world to this academy by using the Gate,” he pauses to take a brief breath, “There should’ve been an Ebony Carriage sent to your home with a gate to greet you as well.”

“I, I guess I felt the shaking?” she responded without much thought, more interested in how Mr. Crowley mentioned the Mirror of Darkness. ‘Didn’t that...bathroom mirror say something about that…?’ Her thoughts race as Mr. Crowley pays no mind and continues on; they had already reached the other end of the fairly vast courtyard. His slightly heeled soles makes a clicking sound while she hardly makes any.

“That Ebony Carriage is specifically used to greet those students that were selected by the Mirror of Darkness. It is a very, very special carriage carrying the gates to this academy. It’s tradition to send carriages on a special day you know.”

“Wait, so you’re saying that that carriage basically kidnapped me?!” Her shocked voice falls on deaf ears as the creature continues to struggle in Mr. Crowley’s arms. Both sets of feet carried on until Mr. Crowley stopped in front of the large, grand looking double doors made with what seems to also be ebony wood.

“Now, let’s go to the ceremony, shall we?” Mr. Crowley looks down at my face with a small, reassuring smile as he begins to push the heavy doors with one hand. Gulping a little, she steals her nerves at what may be waiting beyond those doors and pulls down her hood back over her eyes. As the double doors opened, there seemed to be multitudes of voices circulating the chamber; there seemed to be six or seven individuals talking directly to groups of individuals in separate segments of the room, but the voices overlapping made it difficult to discern what exactly was being said. However, one thing seemed to be clear to her was that there seemed to be a distinct lack of girls in the room, and considering the fact that Mr. Crowley was mentioning that today was an entrance ceremony,

‘Could this academy be...an all-boys academy? Oh this is just a rich dream, isn’t it,’ sarcasm rang through her mind as Mr. Crowley seemed to be indignant towards some of the leader-esque individuals, pointing at my direction as if saying he was out looking for her. Which, in context is not untrue. She began to feel slightly uncomfortable as she could feel multiple stares shooting her way, and for the first time was glad that the robes she dawned were much too big for her; the inordinate size difference, the exaggerated flares in the robe, a much too big hood that covered most of her eyes and sports bra combination helped to hide most of her physique aside from her height and bottom half of her face.

“Now, you’re the only one that hasn’t been assigned to a dorm. I’ll take care of your raccoon familiar, now go stand in front of the Mirror of Darkness.” As she cautiously steps forward towards the mirror as instructed ignoring the struggling from the creature, the whispers around her die down, and the sight she beheld made her eyes widen like saucers. A sudden green flame rose in the mirror and from the midst, a white mask with ornate eye features was staring back with sockets that should have contained eyes but instead seemed to be black holes with no end.

“State thy name”

‘Shit, my name? I, I can’t give out my real name… Oh, wait.’

“Yuu. Yuu Hatanaka.” After a split second decision, Yuu gives out her Japanese middle name and mother’s maiden name to the mirror. But right now she was in something that she desperately hopes is a dream, standing in a room filled with unknown people with nothing but herself in giant robes that she knows she didn’t own; she was not about to give them any personal information. Plus, she sometimes used her middle name anyways. ‘It’s not completely a lie, but then again… the best lies are half truths, no?’ She thinks to herself as she masks her expression to be neutral.

“Yuu…. the shape of thy soul is…” The bass tone speaks back her middle name, and begins to ponder; it was quite rare to see simply a mask thin its sockets as if to squint towards her, and then widen as if expressing surprise. After what seemed to be minutes when it must’ve been only a matter of seconds, the mirror opens its masked mouth and speaks,

“Unknown.”

The chamber, which had been quiet until then, seemed to dawn an air of confusion and the silence was absolutely chilling.

“...What?” Yuu faintly notes that there seems to be genuine shock in Mr. Crowley’s tone.

“This soul doesn’t have the faintest bit of magical signature. No color, no shape, absolutely nothing. Thus, they do not belong in any dormitory!” As the Mirror of Darkness mask makes a final declaration, the green flames and mask disappear and instantaneously the chamber is filled with surprised voices and whispers ringing about. As for her, Yuu simply folded her arms in front of the mirror, letting out a small sigh as she took a few steps towards the now completely blackened mirror. It didn’t seem to have been tampered with some sort of special effect, but maybe CGI? She couldn’t stop figuring why the sudden eruption of whispers and gasps were warranted; of course she can’t use magic. But what was shocking to her was the fact that in the black mirror, the face that was reflecting to her didn’t have the undereye bags that she definitely was sporting, and moreover, had what seemed to be a little bit of youngness in her cheeks than in recent years. She looked younger, a lot younger, at least a decade younger.

“It can’t be! There is no way that the Ebony Carriage brought someone with no magical talent! In these 100 years there shouldn’t be a single mishap in the selection of students...then why…”

“Ugh! Then I’ll take that spot-dazo!”

“Hey, stop you raccoon!”

“Unlike that human over there, I actually can use magic-dazo! So let me in this school instead! If it’s magic you wanna see, I got a nice one for ya!“

“Everyone take cover!”

“Funaaaaagh!!”

Yuu only had a split second to get out of her thought process before her body reacted on instinct; she recognized that same voice and tone as the one that the creature just erupted was the same when the blue flames erupted to blast off the lid.

“At this rate the academy is going to go up in flames! Someone get that raccoon!”

“Ahh!! Hot! My butt is on fire!!”

The statement of the entrance ceremony going into disarray must be the understatement of the century. Students were bustline and trying to run away from the blue flames, Mr. Crowley was shouting for who she thinks is the heads of the dorms to take action but none seem to be doing anything, and her eyes catch that a boy with what appears to be silver hair under his hood, genuinely has blue light burning his butt. She herself had moved from the center of the chamber to the side with less people, and began to run around looking for water, a fountain, anything to help put out a fire. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she spots what she can only describe as a sturdy looking blanket. She rushes to pick it up and notes that it is heavier than she expected, then dashes towards the boy who is still shouting for someone to put out the fire. ‘Wasn’t this supposed to be a magic school, can’t they magic away fire if that’s the case,’ she thought amidst rushing over.

“Sorry! Sir, drop and roll please!”

“What?!”

“Just drop and roll and I’m going to suffocate the fire with this blanket! Just do it please!”

The silver hair boy looked a bit confused at first but complied as Yuu work to wrap his bottom half with the heavy blanket, and soon enough there was only a dim amount of smoke and the boy’s relaxed, smiling face staring back up at hers.

“Wow, thanks! You didn’t even use water and you really put it out!”

“It’s, it’s no problem. Glad you’re alright.” Yuu smiled a little awkwardly at the smiling boys’ face, and as she stood up, she put her hand out. The silver haired boy grabbed it with a little bit more force than she was expecting, and she pulled the kid up. He was only slightly taller than her, but what caught her attention was the fact that he had eyes as red as garnets. Yuu had thought that the silver hair may have been dyed as a fashion statement, but there was no way that that eye color was natural, it couldn’t…. Could it?

“Well, it seems like they took care of the raccoon over there! I’m Kalim Al-Asim by the way, thanks a lot for your help!”

The boy, Kalim as he introduced himself, was excitedly staring at her face as he vehemently shook her one hand with both of his. Though she could appreciate that he may have been glad that someone helped with the fire on his literal ass, she didn’t know how to deal with the constant shower of thanks. She mumbled a quick “no problem” back as her gaze shifted back to the center of the chamber, where now the creature was half yowling as he had what looked to be a red and black collar around his neck. She bids Kalim farewell with a small nod, and walks closer to the central area of the chamber to better hear what is going on.

“I’m not a cat!! I’m gonna light this collar on fire and… w, wait what? I can’t use my fire!”

“Of course not. Until I remove that collar off you, you can’t use magic; you might as well be just a regular cat.”

“W, What?! I am not a pet - dazo!!”

“Don’t worry, nobody would want a pet like you anyways. Well, by the time you’re thrown out of the academy, it’ll be off.”

Yuu was able to ascertain that this shorter, red-head boy whom another student with glasses referred to as “Riddle” had cast some sort of...spell… to put that dual colored collar on the raccoon-cat creature, which somehow impedes his magic? Her head was not able to wrap around this concept, and she couldn’t resist bringing her left hand to her forehead and rubbing it slightly as she sighs in slight frustration.

“You! Do something! That’s your familiar causing all this ruckus! You have to discipline t-”

“That is not my familiar!”

“Wait...it isn’t?”

Mr. Crowley’s accusatory tone brought her back from her thoughts, and she shouted that no, this creature was not her familiar, though the word felt foreign to her tongue. She was trying to grasp that either she is knee deep in the weirdest dream of her life, or she is knee deep in something that she has absolutely no idea about; she was not about to add the possibility of having to take responsibility for a creature that she has not an inkling about.

“No, no I don’t know this creature at all.” Yuu sighed out the words, simply exhausted from everything that just happened in what seemed like hours but must’ve really only been half an hour at most.

“Oh! Well, then. Let’s have it thrown out of the academy then. I won’t roast you into a stew, after all, I’m so kind. Someone, please remove him from this premises.”

“Let go of me! I’m Grim, you hear!? I am going to be the greatest wizard of all time-dazo!!!” The creature, Grim as he called himself, screams as he gets carried out of the Mirror Chamber at the instructions of Mr. Crowley. As the double doors close with a loud clang, Yuu couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for Grim; it seems like he had somehow gotten into the same coffin as her with unknown measures, but he seems desperate to want to enter this academy. Perhaps because it is as prestigious as Mr. Crowley had mentioned before? That Mr. Crowley, meanwhile, had turned to the masses and lifted both his arms; she could tell that he was about to make an announcement, and moved off to the side away from the door.

“Now, there were some troubles but we shall now conclude the entrance ceremony. Dorm heads, please guide the new students to your respective dorms.” Mr. Crowley then seemed to be mumbling something about the group of students that apparently didn’t have a dorm leader, but Yuu saw that a student of smaller stature appeared, and seemingly took charge of this group. The large groups of students began to flow out of the Mirror Chamber, whispering and chatting as they slowly toggled themselves out. Kalim saw her and gave her a big wave as he led his group out of the room, and all Yuu could do was smile slightly and wave near her chest in small movements. She tried her best to keep her expression as stilled as possible as she saw a literal floating device that was reminiscent of a tablet, and how it seemed to float without any sort of assistance. Pretty soon, the chamber was empty save for herself and Mr. Crowley. She sighs and steps back into the center of the chamber, facing the masked man.

“Now, Yuu-kun... That is your name correct?” She nods as Mr. Crowley continues, "It’s quite unfortunate, but we will have to have you leave this academy. We can’t allow for someone with no magical talent to be enrolled at this school. But do not fret, the Mirror of Darkness will send you back home in a heartbeat. Now, step forward into the gate. Think hard of your home…” Yuu couldn’t help breathing out a sigh of relief at his words and obediently climbed back into an open coffin. ‘What a long dream…’ she thought tiredly as her head laid on the soft, silk pillow under her head.

“Mirror of Darkness! Guide this person back to where they belong!” As Mr. Crowley’s voice rang out, Yuu thought hard of her parents’ home- the lovely green forests that surround her home, the perpetual rain that falls 7 months out of the year, the miles and miles of nature and fresh air. She couldn’t help herself as a fond smile stretched across her face, and she expected to feel the enveloping darkness that she had felt when initially being pulled into this place. But as she heard Mr. Crowley’s next words, she could feel her heart drop and heart rate increase.

“Ahem, one more time. Mirror of Darkness! Guide this person...“

“It doesn’t exist”

“...what?”

“There is nowhere in this world that this person belongs to.”

“What?! But, but that’s impossible! Today’s just filled with impossibilities!”

Yuu opens her eyes as she sees Mr. Crowley’s very apparent surprise as the mirror yet again fades into simple darkness. She could tell that truly, he must never have experienced something like this before. She lifts herself out of the coffin, which she didn’t really feel quite comfortable in now that she knows it’s not going to take her back, and walks over to Mr. Crowley who is staring at his hands adorned with golden nail attachments.

“I’ve never experienced this in all the time I’ve been a principal here, and I’m not quite sure how to deal with this...Actually, where did you come from, if I may ask?” Mr. Crowley asked quizzically, his yellow masked eyes squinting at my hooded face as if the answer would suddenly appear there.

“I was in Japan for the last four years, but am originally from the United States of America. I was about to board a flight back when I got pulled into a mirror at the airport.” Yuu answered honestly; she had seen enough of Mr. Crowley to be fully convinced that he was indeed an authority figure and not just some strange man with a strange sense of fashion. If anyone knew a possible way, it would probably be him. The chamber itself and the columns looked to be of western build, and she knew that the window designs were definitely not of Asian origin; even if he didn’t know Japan, he would know America, right?

“I’ve,,,never heard of either of those countries before. I know all the lands that the students come from all across the world, but those I don’t recall at all. Let’s head to the library, maybe there will be records there.” Mr. Crowley straightened his spine as if to mirror the determinedness shown in his voice, and began to walk towards the ebony double doors. Yuu stares a little, then slaps her right cheek with her right hand as hard as she can. The slap reverberates all around the chamber, and Mr. Crowley spins around in surprise and shock.

“Are...are you alright?”

“Yeah...just wanted to make sure this wasn’t some sort of dream is all.” Yuu mumbles as she rubs her right cheek that was tingling in pain from her slap just now. Sympathetically, Mr. Crowley nods in her direction and waits for her to come to the doors before leading them out to the dark hallway. Yuu’s steps were heavy as she followed the now silent Mr. Crowley through the courtyard and to the library. She made a mental note that this was the room where he had pulled out his “whip of love,” and as Mr. Crowley turned on the lights, the halls were lit with dimmed circular chandeliers, and the library itself had high vaulted ceilings with books not only in the shelves, but also floating around ignoring the laws of gravity just as the coffins did. ‘So, definitely not a dream…’ Yuu thinks tiredly, and simply nods when Mr. Crowley guides her to the area of the library with almanacs of the world. Mr. Crowley makes a flick motion with his wrist, and suddenly some of the books that were flying around fly down onto a table, and he begins to sift through. Fortunately, the language on these books, as well as what they had been communicating in, she belatedly notes, has all been in Japanese, making finding the books an easier task. As Yuu begins to sift through the almanacs containing “J” and “U,” her hopes yet again fall as she understands what Mr. Crowley was saying - there really wasn’t a Japan or United States of America in there. She even searched for other countries that start with those letters, like Uruguay and Jamaica, and those didn’t exist.

“Yes, just as I thought. Not only is your country not on the world map, there’s no mention of a ‘Japan’ or ‘United States of America’ in anything since written history.” Mr Crowley mumbles as his finger moves across what Yuu can only assume is the world map of this world...Twisted Wonderland, as Mr. Crowley had explained to her earlier. The land masses looked nothing like those that were on the world maps that she grew up with; Pangeia seemed to have taken a different turn here, though the fact that there seemed to be a lot of ocean was the same was a comfort of sorts.

“Did you really come from there? You aren’t lying, are you?” Mr. Crowley’s tone had a bit of a light tone as if to tease, but Yuu’s tolerance was almost at an end, and her head whipped up from the world map to glare directly at his eyes.

“Sir, pardon my rudeness, but if I were to lie I would make it a somewhat believable one.”

“Point taken. Now, the only thing that would make sense is that through some sort of trouble, you were pulled from a different planet, or perhaps from another dimension, into this world.”

“....another dimension…?!” Yuu exclaimed with shock, but then fell silent. There was absolutely nothing to disprove that there are aliens in the universe, that much was very certain on Earth. Outside of the Milky Way Galaxy even, there were multitudes of galaxies and any of them could contain habitable planets for other humanoids and species of beings. ‘I’m the alien in this case huh,’ she managed to think with a bit of amusement. Oh what would her old science teachers think, she wonders.

“Were you carrying anything with you when you were brought here? Anything that could be a proof of identity, like a magical car driving license or maybe in your shoe somewhere… you seem like you weren’t carrying anything but, still.”

“Most of my things were in my luggage, and I dropped my backpack when I was pulled into the mirror. I do have this wristwatch,” states Yuu as she pulls off the black fabric from her middle finger and rolls the sleeve to show her wristwatch, “and this necklace that I always wear,” she continues as she digs through the top of the buttoned turtleneck to pull the necklace out to show Mr. Crowley.

“Other than that, no, I don’t have anything. By the way, what time is it?”

“It’s 7PM. But well, this is difficult.” Mr. Crowley begins and Yuu takes the time to adjust the wristwatch with the nob on the side. She silently notes that the hair iron burn that she had suffered a few days ago was also no longer present on her left arm, and slides the sleeve back down and passes the loop through her middle finger. Her eyes lift to Mr. Crowley, who now has his left hand under his chin in a thoughtful pose.

“We can’t enroll someone who has no magical potential in this academy. However, as an educational professional, I simply cannot throw out a young person who has no money and no way of contacting their parents. After all, I’m so kind. Hmmm… ah! I have an idea!” Mr. Crowley smiles, his yellowed eyes closing in joy and his smile clearly reaching his eyes as if he had a breakthrough. “We currently have an unoccupied building on campus. It used to be a dormitory, so if you clean it up a bit you should be able to comfortably stay there for a while.; if it’s there I’ll gladly rent it out to you for the time being while I research on a way to send you back home. Oh, I’m just so kind, what an exemplary example for the educational world!” Yuu gave up on commenting in the middle of his speech, a little exasperated that he kept pointing out that he was kind by providing a place to live for someone that they essentially kidnapped against their will.

“Now, time is money! Let’s go to the dorm. It’s a little old, but it’s got some charm.” Yuu realized that Mr. Crowley was the type to just go and take action once he has thought of an idea, and breathes in and out a little deeply as he begins to walk out of the library. She follows shortly behind him, and though she questioned his self-judgment on what kindness implies, she nevertheless mentioned a thanks to the raven-haired man as she kept up pace. If he really didn’t care, he could’ve thrown her out onto the streets, or worse throw her into some sort of facility of...where do off-world people go in this world? She became deep in her thought as she idly followed Mr. Crowley, who was humming some sort of foreign tune; do people get transported here all the time, do aliens live on this planet, is there space travel, what sort of things are commonplace in the magical world - these questions and more were circulating round in her mind. They must have been walking for about fifteen minutes, before Mr. Crowley exclaims, “Here we are! The Ramshackle Dorm!”

* * *

The road to this dorm had been straightforward enough, and she knew she would be able to get back to campus relatively easily if ever need be. But the sight that expanded before Yuu’s eyes was one she was never going to forget: in front of her was an old, black iron gate that would be seen in higher end European estates, followed by a set of steps that led to a large building, and that large building really needed some TLC. The trees surrounding the dorm were barren of any life aside from the rather large spider webs stretching from branch to branch, the roof was definitely missing some bits and pieces, and some of the windows look like they’ve been boarded up from the outside.

“That’s… quite, charming.”

“I’m glad you agree! Now please, let’s head inside.”

It seems that Mr. Crowley didn’t pick up on Yuu’s hesitation or sarcasm, as he pushed open the creaky gate that gave a sound that most haunted mansions would give in movies. There were about forty steps from the gate to the door, and he pulled out a rather large key from his waist to unlock the front door. Yuu didn’t dare look up; she didn’t want to be greeted by potential masses of spiders above her head without anything to take care of them; better to ignore and leave until the equipment exists. Mr. Crowley opens the door, and Yuu could already tell that the inside was bound to be covered in cobwebs and dust, and sure enough she was right. Though she debated on taking off her shoes at the entryway, she decided against it for the time being, at least until she did some cleaning. The entryway opened up to what appeared to be the lounge. There were multiple pieces of furniture that were flipped upside down, some missing a lag or two. Wallpaper was literally falling off on some of the sides, and the tops of the vaulted ceilings seemed to be a breeding place for a few spiderwebs here and there. The once probably lovely fireplace was covered in cobwebs, and the hanging curtain had chewed holes presumably from bugs. Some paintings had fallen from the walls as well, and the way she would phrase the state of this place would be “in disarray.” The few sofas that seem to be in good condition need a good cleaning, but a lot of the things need to go. ‘If this is the state of the lounge...the rooms must be just as bad or even worse…’ she thinks in despair; it was already getting quite late, and she didn’t have any cleaning supplies on hand.

“Now, you’ll at least have a roof over your head here. I’m going to go look up a few things, so please do whatever you like. Here, I’ll turn on the electricity and water for you,” Mr. Crowley pulls out a walking stick that she didn’t know when he grabbed, and twirls the raven head tip with a flick of the wrist. At once, she could hear the power sound coming from nearby, and noted to go check the kitchen and lights. “There should be some cleaning supplies in the closet, but here, since I am so kind,” Mr. Crowley continues with another flick, and a single bucket, duster, dustpan, mop, a corded vacuum cleaner(of which the design was thankfully the same as what she was used to) and basic cleaning supplies appear out of nowhere and rests up against the wall. “Now,” he exclaimed, and faced Yuu fully, “Here is your key for this place. Please do not wander around the academy! I will be back shortly!”

With that, Mr. Crowley clicks away back outside, and a silence envelopes the air as Yuu takes in her surroundings. She looks down at the key in her hand; it was a simple key without an ornate design at the top, or perhaps it used to have a design but now it was so faded nobody could tell, who knows.

“Well. I better clean if I want to sit down,” said Yuu as she pulled down her hoodie, revealing her slanted bangs and the side bangs that framed her face. She rolled up the sleeves of her robe, hoping that she will be able to hang the robe portion on a chair or something soon so that she can just work in the turtleneck button up and baggy pants that she is donning underneath. Her eyes scan over to locate the light switch near the frame towards the entryway, and touches the switch. The lights flicker on, and the excessive water damage along the walls as well as the actual state of the room became even more apparent. With a final sigh, she steels her facial expression into one of determination, and begins the hard work.

It was well over an hour when Yuu finally decided to take a break from her cleaning; she had moved all the broken furniture and fallen art pieces that weren’t salvageable to an area that she nor most people would probably wander into on accident, vacuumed and cleaned up the now apparent blue and white striped sofas with golden rims so that they could be sat on, the cobweb in the fireplace long gone, and a coffee table in good condition as well as a few chairs made it to stay in the lobby. As she reached to take down the curtains, she saw that the weather had taken a rather wet turn as rain poured out from the very black sky. ‘Reminds me of home…’ she thought mildly as she struggled to pull down the curtains.

“Gyaaaa! Why’d it just start pouring all the sudden!”

She heard the front door slam open, absentmindedly thinking that Mr. Crowley must’ve not locked the door on his way out, and was greeted by a wet-furred cat-like Grim, who started absolutely laughing looking at Yuu’s face,

“AHAHAA! You look like a bat that just got a water gun shot at you! It’s not even a trifle for someone like me to sneak back into the academy. They thought wrong if being kicked out was going to deter me from getting into the academy!” Grim boasted about his prowess, and Yuu acknowledged that perhaps it was because he was so cat-like in his features that he was able to sneak back in; the memories of her own cat back home sneaking into pantries and what have you were enough proof of that.

“Why are you so determined to get into the academy?” Yuu figured she would humor Grim as she lets go of the curtains in favor of getting a duster to deal with the mantle.

“It’s simple! It’s become I’m a genius, destined to become the greatest wizard that I was born to be! I waited and waited for the Ebony Carriage that was bound to come for me, and yet...and yet… anyhow! The Mirror of Darkness must’ve missed a detail or something. So I decided to come here myself and do their work for them. It would be a waste to the world if they didn’t let me enroll; those humans just don’t understand-dazo.” As if a dam broke, Grim begins to boast in a loud, prideful tone of his goal. Though Yuu would’ve thought that they had specific academies for his species if that was the case, she yet again had to acknowledge that if Grim was so desperate to get into Night Raven College, it must be renown to have its reputation known to Grim. Yuu nods to indicate that she is listening, and as Grim opens his mouth to presumably go on another boastful rant about his genius abilities,

“Nya!? Cold! The roof must be leaking some of the rain-dazo! Ah! It’s going to put out my charming fire ears!” Yuu couldn’t help but think that perhaps Grim is much more of a cat than he realizes, but he seemed quite surprised at the leaking roof. She sighs a little, and grabs the nearby bucket that she had just emptied of dirty water to place.

“I’m gonna just put the bucket here until later,” states Yuu calmly, and then begins to look around for possibly another bucket to use while that’s gathering rain water.

“Why don’t you just fix that leak with magic? Like Bam! Oh yeah, you can’t use magic can you? Haha, so useless.” Grim smirks with a terrible attitude, and Yuu really just didn’t have the energy to fight this little thing.

“If you are the Great Wizard, why don’t you use magic then to stop the leakage?” Her tone was much more deadpanned than she intended, but Grim seemed to not catch the tonal difference, because he continued

“Uhm, no I’m not gonna help! I’m just a passing monster here to get out of the rain for awhile. I’m not going to do free labor, especially if it’s not going to get me any tuna cans-dazo.” Yuu’s first thought when hearing this from Grim was ‘Wow this is like talking to a five year old.’ But before she could voice her thoughts, she heard an increase in the dripping patterns from the bucket she just placed.

“I wonder if there’s more buckets in the hallway…” mumbled Yuu as she all but almost ignores Grim floating and getting his face caught with a mouthful of cobwebs. Yuu opened the door to the dark hallway, and she could instantly feel the increased tiredness from the sheer amount she is going to have to clean in the next few days. There were countless cobwebs on the ceiling, more peeled wallpaper, more fallen photos, and not to mention that the two doors on either side of the hallway were shut and she had no idea the state that anything was in. Her eyes scan, and they settle on the smaller door towards the end of the hallway, thinking ‘That is probably the supply closet...it would be there if anything, right?’ Her first step into the hallway was greeted with a loud wooden creak, and she had to take a moment to calm herself down.

“God, this really looks like a haunted mansion doesn’t i----AAAAAAAA!!!!!” Her mumbling had turned into a full fledged scream, as three very pale, very see through beings with tophats and scarves appeared right before her with absolutely no legs.

“Hehehe… oh how lovely, we have guests. We must offer some hospitality, hehehe” The middle, rounder ghost floats forward, causing Yuu to take one step back. From behind her, she could hear little pitter patters and,

“What are you screaming ab----AAAAA!!! GHOSTS!!!!” Grim, who had probably come over after hearing her scream, repeated Yuu’s exact reaction as he was greeted with the three spectral beings in front of them as well.

“Hehehe. Everyone who lived here before got scared of us and they all just left.”

“We’ve been looking for some new ghost friends. How about it? “ The ghosts casually chat as they come closer to both Yuu and Grim, and Yuu has too many horror movies to know how this would go if they don’t do something.

“Holy water! Gotta find it!” As Yuu frantically looked towards the untouched kitchen, she knew off the top of her head that there was absolutely nothing in the lounge area that would help, and she had no idea about any of the rooms or upstairs.

“T-t-t-t-t The Great Wizard Grim isn’t scared of ghosts! Fungaaaa!” Grim, who after looking as if he was going to cry a river seemed to have pulled himself together, and let out another wave of blue flame. However, the ghosts dodged it with elegant ease.

“Where are you looking? “

“We’re here! Hehehee”

“Hey! Don’t go disappearing and reappearing!” Grim yells at the ghosts as they tease him, blowing out another bit of blue flames.

“Stop! You’re going to burn the place down!”

“Shut up! Don’t tell me what to do!”

Yuu realized that if Grim keeps up this flaming game, she will have nowhere to stay for who knows how long. But this prideful furball wasn’t going to listen to her without some sort of benefit of his own.

“Hey, if we chase away these ghosts, you can show the principal that he was doing a disservice by not admitting you.” This suggestion must’ve enticed Grim, because his eyes widened and ears perked up in interest.

“What!?.... But, but, I’m a genius! I can take care of these guys by myself…”

“Heheheehe!”

“You cowards! It’s not fair you guys have numbers!”  
Grim whined at the three ghosts who were circling around him, taunting him to fight back and generally enjoying their time as far as Yuu could tell. But she also needed a place to stay and quite frankly, would rather love it if she didn’t have to think about the potential of a ghost possessing her or something.

“Look, I’ll point out where they are going to appear. I’ll lend you a hand and let’s take care of them. Deal?”

Yuu tries desperately to convince Grim that he needs to listen to her, for she had noticed that in those few moments, he was shutting his eyes so tight when he cast the flame and didn’t even know where it was going. Grim, after a second of contemplation, looked back with a determined looking expression,

“Alright! You! You tell me where the ghosts are going to appear next!”

“! To your left!”

As soon as Grim agreed, a ghost had conveniently popped up to the left side of him, and sure enough he shut his eyes and blue his flames to the left. The ghost shouted in surprise and gasped in pain as the blue flames hit face first into the creature.

“W, wait it hit him? Alright! Let’s get rid of all of them-dazo!” shouted Grim as he triumphantly lifts one paw above his head. Yuu was just glad that the fires were no longer being fired into every other direction and burning down her temporary place of living. Though it took a few minutes, in the end with Yuu’s instructions and trying to guess where the ghosts would appear and Grim spitting out fire, the three ghosts fled the scene fearing their own extinguishment. After both Yuu and Grim panting for different reasons, Grim says a little dumbfoundedly,

“Wait...We...won?”

“You were absolutely brilliant!” exclaimed Yuu, who was truly thankful that Grim’s pinpointed fires were enough to scare away those ghosts.

“I, I was so sc...No, no I wasn’t scared at all-dazo! This is all a piece of cake for the Mighty Grim! Take that you ghosts! Ha!” Grim seems to have recovered his prideful nature as he does a sort of victory dance in the middle of the hallway. Yuu simply smiles down, and turns around as she hears the now familiar sounding clicks of Mr. Crowley’s shoes,

“Good evening, My kind self brought us some dinner...hey! That’s the monster that caused a ruckus at the entrance ceremony! We threw him out, so why is he here?!” Mr. Crowley exclaimed as his right side went out of view behind the doorway, presumably to put down the dinner that he had brought over.

“You should be thanking me! I chased away those ghosts from here!” exclaimed Grim as he puffed out his chest in pride. With these words Mr. Crowley’s expression changed from one of annoyance to one of intrigue. His face turns to Yuu as he gestures with his hand towards the furry creature, “Could you explain what he means?”

“Earlier when I was looking for another bucket to gather the rainwater that was leaking through the ceiling, a group of three ghosts came out of nowhere and surprised us.”

“Oh yes, now that you mention it, a couple of prankster ghosts had settled into this dorm so people didn’t really want to go here, and pretty soon it led to being completely abandoned,” added Mr. Crowley as Yuu furrows her brows slightly at this nonchalant tone. ‘It would have been much helpful if you told us earlier,’ she thought irksomely, but continued,

“Anyways, so Grim was trying to get them to go away with fire but they were appearing here and there, so we teamed up and took care of them.” Yuu continued with her explanation, and noticed that Grim’s right ear twitched and his eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. It seems that Grim did not like the term she used to ‘team up,’ which considering how he was insulting humans earlier, is to be an expected attitude.

“Oh? Interesting… I wasn’t expecting you two to work together to take care of the ghosts.”

“Hey now, I can’t just idly let you guys say we teamed up. All this guy did,” Grim continues as he jabs a finger at Yuu’s direction, “was just watching on the sidelines for ghosts. And I did this to get some tuna cans. Which reminds me, I still haven’t gotten my dues!” Though Mr. Crowley seemed to be contemplating something, Grim’s short attention span was focused on the supposed tuna cans that Yuu genuinely had no recollection of ever mentioning. Why would she - she doesn’t have a single penny on her person. As Grim continues to yowl about his tuna cans as payment, Mr. Crowley’s voice cuts in,

“Could you two please show me how you defeated the ghosts?”

“But there’s no ghosts left! Whatever, give me my tuna can!”

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll play ghost for you. Now, if you manage to defeat me, then I’ll give you a tuna can. Since I’m so kind.” Yuu couldn’t help but initially sigh at how one-ded both Mr. Crowley and Grim’s conversations were, it was as if they just wanted to push onto each other what they say. Then, Mr. Crowley brought out a small prism-like flask filled with what appeared to be magenta liquid. With a pop he uncaps the flask and downs the liquid, instantaneously he was surrounded in a white mist, and when that subsided there was a ghost in front of the both of us. Both Grim and I jumped a little in surprise, but one look at the crow mask and small tophat told us that this was Mr. Crowley. ‘That must be a shape-changing potion...wow, this place really has magic,’ thought Yuu as she was forced to take in that what is going on in front of her, though it contradicts everything reality ever taught her, is definitely real.

“Ugh, I don’t wanna. It’s so much work, and I have to deal with this,” he points his paw again at Yuu in an exasperated voice, and Yuu sighs again. She recalls briefly his prideful speech earlier about wanting to get into the school, and how he snuck back in after being thrown out just to attend, and opens her mouth to speak.

“Look, you not only have a chance to get that tuna can you so desperately want, but you also are going to directly show your magical prowess to the principal of the academy. Are you really going to miss this chance?” Yuu lifts one eyebrow as she looks down at Grim, her voice including a slight taunt to elicit a reaction. True enough, Grim reacts after he grunted for a split second, and

“Fine! This is the last time! And this time I better get a tuna can-dazo!” proceeds to declare this to Yuu as he prepares by...closing his eyes and pawing at nothing in midair. Yuu couldn’t help but smile a little as she again reaffirmed in her mind that he is exactly like a petulant five year old, and readies herself. She tries to predict the principal- ghost’s movements, but they were much more difficult than the three earlier and she can admit Grim’s flame missed once or twice. But judging by the movement of Mr. Crowley’s lips (?), she could tell he seemed surprised and pleased simultaneously. He must’ve said something to annoy Grim, because instantly he was shouting,

“Ha! I’ll show you real magic!! Fungaaaaaaah!,” while spewing out the blue flames without direction.

“Hey hey! We won! You showed him Grim!” Yuu was not about to have a repeat of earlier of the potential of losing her temporary housing, and it seemed that due to the extent he was using his fire earlier, Grim stopped rather quickly while panting hard and lifting his shoulders up and down.

“Ha, ha, take that!”

Grim points his paw at Mr. Crowley, who in a split second had returned to the humanoid form that Yuu recognized. She didn’t need any more dramatic magic thrusted into her face that day; her head was already threatening to burst from all the information being thrown at it.

“Wow… I never thought that there would be a human that could control monsters. Here, why don’t we discuss this over dinner? You both must be hungry.” As if waiting for that exact moment, Grim’s stomach loudly growls as Mr. Crowley finishes the explanation and heads towards the lounge. Grim excitedly follows with the prospect of food, and Yuu trails last out of the hallway and is careful to shut the door behind her so as to not cause more dust to avalanche down. As the door clicks softly, Yuu turns around and is greeted by the scent of freshly baked bread and what appears to be a warm bowl of stew; the visibly warm steam makes her very aware of how empty her stomach felt for the first time all day as she couldn’t remember what time she had eaten last. As promised, Mr. Crowley had conjured up an opened deluxe tuna can for Grim, who was happily munching on its contents. The silverware that Mr. Crowley had also brought in seemed to be of nice quality, the silver gleaming a little against the light. After finally taking off the outer robe and laying it carefully away from any potential food damage, Yuu sits herself down on one end of the couch, while Mr. Crowley sat at the other end with their food on the clean coffee table in front of them. After saying a brief ‘itadakimasu’ while putting her hands together, she takes a scoop of the stew and brings it into her mouth - it was all she could do to hold back a groan at how the spices interacted with her sense of taste, the warmth spreading from her mouth to what felt like the tips of her toes. Mr. Crowley let out a chuckle, seemingly satisfied at Yuu’s reaction to the dinner, and he himself began to eat the meal as he chatted.

“You see, my educator’s gut sense has been telling me something since the whole entrance ceremony ordeal. I think, “ he points his currently empty spoon at Yuu before he scoops up another bit of stew, “that you have a high potential to become either a disciplinarian or perhaps a beastmaster.”

As Mr. Crowley made this declaration then followed to mumble to himself, Yuu couldn’t help but nearly choke on the stew that she was eating. Once she managed to not choke on a chunk of meat, her eyes shifted towards Grim, who was eyeing the stew she was holding with drool coming out of his mouth. She hands him the bowl after taking out the spoon, which he happily begins to dig into the leftover third of the stew as she goes for her salad. ‘Beastmaster...hm. That’s better than sitting around doing nothing… besides…’ her thoughts wander again to Grim’s very apparent desire to enroll at the academy. Maybe, if he stays here, he’ll get a chance.

“Would it be alright if Grim stays here as well?” she asks Mr. Crowley, figuring that there was absolutely nothing to lose by asking.

“What? Let a monster live here?”

“You…”

Both parties seemed to have a surprised expression on their face, but Yuu presses on.

“Please, sir.” Her brown eyes meet his yellow ones as she asks again, again with the same firmness as her previous question. After a few seconds, Mr. Crowley’s shoulders slump, and she knows she won.

“Ah...I guess that will be alright. “

“Funga! Really?!”

“However,” Mr. Crowley’s voice cuts off Grim’s excited cheer, “I cannot allow for someone who was not selected by the Mirror of Darkness, let alone a monster, to be enrolled in the academy. In regards to yourself, I simply cannot let you stay for free until you’re able to go back to your world.”

“Ah man… I got excited for nothing…” In contrast to Yuu’s nods of fair understanding, Grim’s voice is filled with a sense of disappointment. Mr. Crowley looks at Yuu a little quizzically and pauses before continuing,

“Now, now, I wasn’t finished yet. In regards to calling your spirit here, Yuu, as the beholder of the Mirror of Darkness the responsibility does lie with the academy. So, for the foreseeable future, I will offer this dorm free of charge- that means no rent, no water fees, and no electricity fees. For trash as long as you take it out to the dumpster located near the dorm’s yard shed, it’ll get taken care of. However, you will have to bear the other living costs. Now, how would someone without a single thing pay for something like this...hmmm… ah, let’s do this.”

Yuu can’t help but mask the slight panic of her swallow by carefully chewing the salad in her mouth. So far his logic seems fair and sounded much more manageable than paying for everything, however, the way that Mr. Crowley’s grin spread across his face slowly as he licked the leftover stew from the edge of his lip was a bit unsettling.

“Oh don’t be so nervous. I’m just going to have you handle some duties here and there around the campus, like cleaning the campus and running errands and such. Judging by how you cleaned up this lounge in such a short time, you seem to have a knack for cleaning,” he says as he waves the hand currently holding a chunk of bread around, “so how about it? Why don’t you two be the handymen of the academy as a pair? If you agree, I will specially allow you both to enter the academy campus. I will also grant you special permission to access any information in the library, whether it be to research a way to get back or to keep up with your studies. Since I am so kind. Of course it goes without saying, that would have to follow after you’re done with your work.”

“Seriously? I wanna wear that cool uniform and be a student-dazo!” Grim answers before she has a chance to open her mouth with a whine, and Mr. Crowley’s expression cools towards Grim.

“If you’re unsatisfied, then all that remains is to be thrown out of campus again.”

“Funagh! Fine, Fine! We’ll do it, geez.”

Though begrudging, Grim seems to have agreed to the idea with the threat of being thrown out dangling in front of him. Yuu nods slightly, before facing Mr. Crowley and giving him the best ‘office lady’ smile that she learned in Japan, “I agree to your terms, Mr. Crowley, or should I refer to you as Principal Crowley?”

“ Oh that is splendid! And either is fine, please call me whichever you prefer. Now, before I head off for the night, it seems that your ceremonial clothes are much too baggy for you.” He pulls out his cane from the side of the couch, and flicks it a little towards Yuu. In that instant, she could feel the loose fabric from earlier closing in, comfortably snug against her figure. As she sighs in a bit of relief and turns to thank Principal Crowley, she is met with him staring blankly at her with his jaw dropped.

“You, you’re a girl?!”

“...yes?”

“EEEEEHHHH?!”

* * *

Surprised exclamation came from not only Principal Crowley, but from Grim as well. Both their eyes were wide open like saucers, and Yuu could only sigh as she broke off another chunk of bread. ‘Wow, this garlic bread is really good,’ she nonchalantly thinks as she lets Principal Crowley go through his stages of reaction to this bit of news. She figured she will refer to him as Principal now, considering he is her employer.

“B- but how?! The Ebony Carriage truly just went completely south in picking?! But this bad?!”

“Sir, honestly I don’t know what to tell you.” Yuu was starting to feel a sense of pity for the poor Principal, who seemed to be having the shock of his life in front of her eyes. But then again, if the process of selecting students has never failed in the past however long this academy has been operating, then it must be such a shock that it picked up someone that fit absolutely none of the criteria.

“But, but you didn’t look like a girl-dazo!” Grim interjects, and Yuu couldn’t help but chuckle as she responds.

“Grim, you’ve been trying to either turn me extra crispy or turning the ghosts extra crispy. Plus, the robes were quite baggy, and the hood was covering my eyes.”

“Huh. True.” Grim seemed to be satisfied with his lack of realization, even though he was stuck inside a literal coffin with her for an indefinite time. Principal Crowley coughs a little, and as he stands up he flicks his stick, the plates floated from the table to the sink, which had somehow been filled with soapy water.

“Now, both of you. From tomorrow, I want you both to do your best as the handymen of the academy, understood? But, I’ll leave behind a little gift for tonight as payment for today’s cleaning duties and your work today.” He then flicks his staff again, and smiles mischievously as Yuu tilts her head slightly to the left in question. “Now, please be kind and walk me to the front door?”

“Sure,” Yuu states while lifting an eyebrow, looking back at Grim who had decided that now was the time to completely vegetate on the couch. As Principal Crowley reaches the end of the hallway and puts his hand on the door handle, he turns slightly,

“I’ll have your work uniform ready for you by tomorrow. But for now, here are some sweats and a sweater you can use to sleep in. Some toiletries as well, should last you a few days before you can go buy more. Was there something else you needed?”

A matching set of faded blue sweats and sweatshirt pop out of thin air, and Yuu has about a second delay before realizing she needs to put her arms out, and the set, followed by sample sizes of toiletries, falls slowly into her hands. He asks quietly the last bit, as if it was a secret between the two of them. Yuu looks up at his face, and seeing no ounce of deceit, smiles a little.

“Yes, just one thing,” she says as she points to the small cabinet nearest to the door, “Can you put a pretty sign here in big letters that says ‘Please take off your shoes’ in calligraphy?”

She knows she is going to sleep with a smile on her face as Principal Crowley begins to howl with laughter after the briefest pause, and sure enough, she now had a lovely golden sign.


	2. The Chandelier Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grim and Yuu begin their first day on the job and Yuu could only hope that it would be peaceful, knock on wood.
> 
> She's going to have to find better wood to knock on.

Birds chirping slowly register into her brain as Yuu slowly peels her eyelids open, her eyes greeted with slivers of sunlight that sneak in between the curtains. To her right, Grim is still sleeping in a starfish stance, quietly snoring in his own dream world, and her eyes roll to the hanging clock in the room - 5:30. ‘A little early, but might as well get started,’ she thinks as she slowly lifts one edge of the covers to crawl out, her body involuntarily shivering slightly as the cool air outside her bed hits her skin. Carefully, she puts Grim back under the covers, and tiptoes to the door to head towards the kitchen. 

The previous night, both she and Grim decided that they wanted to share a room to save time on cleaning the entire dorm, and ended up choosing the room farthest down the second floor hallway to the right. They both swept the bare minimum of where their feet would step, then both were greeted with another face full of dust when opening the door to their room. Though they were very happy that this at least had a bed with clean-looking sheets, they had the shock of their lives when the bed literally fell through the frame and landed on the ground. Yuu, in particular, was ecstatic that this bedroom had its own private bathroom, complete with toilet, sink, shower and large enough bathtub to fully soak up to her shoulders. Considering the state of the disrepair and cleanliness, she was able to ascertain that the ‘little gift’ that Principal Crowley had done as the pay for first day’s work was having a clean bath. She honestly could have given him a few days worth of free labor for the sheer joy she felt to put her tired body into the hot bath, but she wasn’t going to suggest it. 

Her feet finally brought her to the kitchen, where she was able to confirm the night before that a lot of the kitchen dishes and cutlery were still there and in good condition, just heavily covered in dust, and that all the kitchen appliances just needed a clean before continued reuse. Yuu pulls her hair back into a low ponytail, rolls her sleeves, and sets to work as she absentmindedly thinks that they don’t have any groceries. Once she was satisfied with the state of things with cutlery and all on the drying rack and appliances smelling of cleaning material, she could feel a cold breeze behind her. Instinctively, she turned around quickly and was greeted by the three ghosts from the day before. 

“Oh ho ho! Aren’t you guys supposed to be cleaning the academy from today?” The slimmest, and possibly the eldest, ghost speaks in an elderly tone. The other two ghosts join him and nod, seemingly unsurprised that both she and Grim are still here in the dorm. Yuu nods, and gives a small smile. 

“Yes, but it’s still… 6:30, and I believe the principal would only come just a little before the academy starts, so figured I can start making some headway on cleaning the dorm.” Yuu explains and the ghosts nod approvingly; considering the fact that these were the same ghosts that nearly scared the living pants off of its newest tenants, they were surprisingly docile and friendly. She makes a decision in her mind, and opens her mouth.

“So, as you may have heard last night, both Grim and I are going to be living here until… the foreseeable future. And since you guys are the existing tenants, I want to get started on a good footing. My name is Yuu, Yuu Hatanaka. May I know your names?” Instinctively, she puts her hands out to shake their hands. Finding this amusing, the three ghosts laugh boisterously as the rounder one takes up the offer and curls his hand where Yuu’s hand was as if to shake. Yuu felt an icy chill go through her right hand, and had to resist pulling back from the sensation. 

“Actually we are quite excited to have you guys live here. After all, now we have constant pranking material ha ha! My name is Charles, but my friends call me Charlie. That gent is Gus, and that one there is Jones.” Charlie brought his hand back as he laughed joyously, and the smaller ghost (Gus) and elder ghost (Jones) lifted their ghost top hats in greeting. “Now,” continued Charlie, “should we wake our other new tenant? “ The smile that spread across his face was the one from the previous night, the one where they clearly are enjoying the prospect of pranking the poor, sleeping soul upstairs who knew absolutely nothing about what he was about to wake up to. Yuu’s eyes shift over to the clock - 6:40. A smile creeps across her face, and as she nods she can tell she and her new companions have struck an accord as they float up to the second floor, and moments later she hears a yowl from upstairs and couldn’t resist chuckling at knowing what just took place. 

“Hey you! You sent those ghosts up didn’t you!?” A slightly miffed Grim waddles down the stairs and stands in a power stance with his two front paws on his hips. Yuu decided that this was the right time to heat some water up in the microwave, which was thankfully the same as what Yuu was used to. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Grim,” she smiles a little feigning lack of knowledge as he grunts in frustration. But he seems to calm himself down as he sprawls across the same spot on the couch that he did the day before. ‘I guess that’s his spot now,’ Yuu thinks as the microwave beeps that it’s job is done.

At 7:00, she heard a knock at the front door, prompting her to put down her steaming mug of hot water and head out. As the door opened, she was greeted with the sight of Principal Crowley with two bags in his hands, and a face full of peaceful but slightly chilly wind. 

“Good morning Yuu-kun! Grim-kun as well,” he nods towards Grim who had trotted out into the foyer with a frown on his face, “how was your sleep?” Yuu promptly takes the bags that Principal Crowley pushed towards her as he reaches to take off his shoes, and she couldn’t help but smile that he found that somehow amusing. She nods and simply states that yes, she was able to sleep well the night before, but neglected to mention that it was probably due to the sheer exhaustion of what happened during the day. The answer seemed to amuse Principal Crowley, however, as he commends her for having thick skin considering she was just teleported into a different world for all they know. She decides to not comment on that, and instead Grim opens his mouth. 

“When we laid on the bed the bottom gave out! How long has this place just been abandoned? I even got woken up by --- what are you doing-dazo?” As Grim went on his little tirade of complaints, he noticed that Principal Crowley had taken off his shoes and had a look of confusion. Principal Crowley smiles his signature smile at Grim and responds, “Well, Yuu-kun here, she has requested this sign here, for everyone to please take off their shoes. So you may want to ask her over breakfast,” as he points to the bag in Yuu’s left hand. Now that she gave the bag her attention, the smell faint baked goods tickled her sense of smell. Yuu gave a nod, and Grim was out in a flash to the kitchen and perched himself on the kitchen island as he waited for the food to be handed to him like a hungry hound. After putting down the heavier bag in her right hand, she opens the smaller bag and is greeted by a couple breakfast pastries - a few croissants, scones, a thing of jam and honey. Soon enough, these were placed onto their respective plates and the three of them began eating their sweet breakfast treats. As Yuu savored the flakiness of the croissant in her hand, she turns to Grim, 

“We just cleaned this place, and I want to keep it clean. My mother’s culture, they always take off their shoes at the front door so that the house doesn’t get dirty. You could be stepping in bird poop and bringing it into your bedroom for all we know, and we don’t want to bring bird poop into our room, right Grim?” 

“Ew no!! But I don’t have shoes-dazo.” Yuu’s comment must have hit home as his face grimaces, and looks at his hind legs that are currently on either side of the plate as he wolfs down his honey covered scone. 

“Well, you can wipe your feet on a cloth for now but we should have an outdoor and indoor doormat so you can wipe your paws, yes? I’m pretty sure the outdoor one is there.” Grim nods looking a little confused but goes back to the last quarter of his scone. Principal Crowley had in the meantime conjured up a cup of tea for himself, and as he sips on the hot beverage, he begins.

“Now, I would like to discuss with you about today’s duties. I am going to have you both clean the academy campus today. However, the academy is quite large; there’s no way that you would be able to finish the whole campus without using magic. So, for today you will complete the section between the main gate and the library, otherwise known as the Main Street. The cleaning supplies are located in a shed to the left a little off the path nearest to the main gate. Now, Yuu-kun,” Principal Crowley pauses in his explanation as he looks at Yuu with a serious expression. 

“Make sure to watch over Grim-kun so that there isn’t a repeat of yesterday’s fiasco. Now, your uniform is in the other bag, along with a couple groceries so that you have food here for tonight, and I shall allow for you both to eat at the school cafeteria for lunch between the students’ lunch periods. Which… is going to be between 1:05PM and 1:30PM, just to be safe; your uniform’s logo will indicate to the cooks there that your bill is covered by the school. Why don’t you go put it on and I’ll explain the rest when you’re done.” 

“Yes, sir.” Yuu replies to both of his requests as she opens the heavier bag. Inside was a black jumpsuit with large pockets on either side of the pants as well as two breast pockets, a black undershirt, pair of black sneakers, groceries as he had mentioned earlier, and what looks to be a map of the campus. She hurries upstairs to her room not even bothering to hide the sheer excitement at the depth of the pockets in her uniform, and promptly takes off her pajamas and promptly switches to her work uniform while realizing that she was lucky that she had kept her sports bra on from the night before. The jumpsuit was a perfect fit, and she could see that on the sleeves was a silver lining emblem of the academy, complete with the crow in the middle. Her heart warms a little at the gesture.

‘It’s nice of him to go this far, even if it was their fault for bringing me here in the first place,’ she thinks as she returns to the kitchen. Principal Crowley looks up from a final bite of chocolate croissant and nods approvingly as Grim reaches into the bag for seconds. Yuu silently comes to peace with herself that the one croissant she ate is going to have to hold her over to lunch since the rest is going to get sucked into the furball’s stomach very soon.

“Wonderful, I’m glad the jumpsuit is the correct size. Now, as you may have ascertained from yesterday’s entrance ceremony,” Principal Crowley begins as Yuu nods in acknowledgment, “this academy is an all-boys school, as are the staff. Although we have a responsibility to you since the Mirror of Darkness called for you, I cannot risk having a young woman be surrounded by...by…”

“By a bunch of boys that don’t have a single female presence anywhere near them for kilometers to come?” Yuu offers half-jokingly.

“Well, I wouldn't have put it so bluntly, but there is that too yes. Now, I do not think anyone would be foolish enough to do anything, but just in case I would like for you to disguise yourself as a boy while you are here. I need you to wear this while you’re in our care.” Principal Crowley pulls out what looked to be a deep ruby red hair tie from his pocket between his index finger and thumb. 

“Now, please hold out your hands,” he instructs, and Yuu obediently follows. The hair tie seems like a regular hair tie, save for the slight hum that seemed to be emanating from the item itself. Before Yuu could ask, Principal Crowley had stood up, and both of us hands were lifted as if to surround hers and spoke, 

“ _Disappear into the shadow O true self, for while thou bears the binding the reflection shall become thyself_.” Yuu didn’t have time to be shocked that this time, Principal Crowley had spoken in perfect English. Once he finished uttering the last word, the hair tie began to glow in a golden light, stretching into a long ribbon. The ribbon then wrapped around both of Yuu’s wrists, and she was surrounded by strands of golden light as she could only stare in awe as they felt warm and comforting. After a few moments, the golden ribbon shrank back and returned to its original state, and at Principal Crowley’s beckoning, she took out her current hair tie and put the new one on - it seemed durable. 

“Now, see for yourself!” Lifting an eyebrow at the excited looking Principal, Yuu walks to the full-body length mirror that she assumes he had conjured up while she was upstairs. But what reflected back shocked both her and Grim. 

“Fungah?! Yuu looks different in the mirror-dazo!?” As Grim exclaimed this, Yuu lightly touches the surface of the mirror as she stares at ‘her’ reflection; her back length brown hair, front and side bangs sculpting her face, deep brown eyes and mole right under her right eye, height...those were the same. However, her typical face seemed to be more androgynous than usual, and her chest was completely flat to the point where she had to use her left hand to make sure that yes, she still had them. “What is this?” she turns to Principal Crowley, who at some point turned to face away.

“That, Yuu, is an artifact known as ‘Binding Reflection’ , and it gives the wearer enough of an illusion to those that don’t know you. One of the few mid-tier magical disguising items in the world that doesn’t require magic to use. It doesn’t completely erase your features of course, but masks them just enough to blend into a defined setting, which I took care of for you since I’m so kind. We already placed in the binding strand that defined where you needed to blend in, so now your peers will see you as you see yourself in the reflection right now. Now, there are a few warnings I must give you.” 

Principal Crowley lifted his hand top stop her before she could ask questions. Wordlessly, she closes her opened lips and nods for him to continue. 

“First, this is only effective for people that don’t already know that you are a woman. So Grim, the three ghosts that live here, myself, and one other staff member at this point, see you as you are. Second, this Binding Reflection is bound to you through the little ritual just now, so nobody else can use it. But you have to have it tied around your hair to be effective. You can’t have it around your wrist, ankle, wherever - only your hair. So, if you do end up cutting your long locks then make sure you’re at least able to tie some part of it. Third, this is only an _illusionary_ effect and doesn’t physically change any of your traits. Meaning, if someone trips and falls on top of you they'd, well, you know... and yes I understand this is a very uncomfortable topic to discuss but please bear with me.” Principal Crowley finished his explanation, during which his gaze had started wavering everywhere but Yuu, his gloved index finger tapping a little faster against the countertop. 

“Sir, you’re the one between the two of us being flustered,” Yuu retorts as she struggles to not chuckle at the principal’s hesitation; she can tell he must not be used to talking to girls let alone talk about topics like this. “But, I understand. Thank you, for doing all this.” 

“It is no trouble, after all, I am kind,” said a pleased Principal Crowley, “Now, you both! Make sure to work hard! Ta-ta!” With that final remark, the dishes were in the sink in seconds, and he was out of their dorm, leaving a grateful Yuu and put-out Grim in the kitchen. 

“I don’t have time to be cleaning. I wanna go to magic classes and dish out some cool spells-dazo! Like Bam! Wham!” Grim punches out his paws with each onomatopoeia, eyes alit with excitement as he kicks out his hind leg for a final pose. The corners of Yuu’s lips move upward, eyebrows a little furrowed.

“Well, why don’t we go to the library after we’re done cleaning? Impress the principal with our duties and then your spells, a win-win.” Yuu nudges as she pulls out the black sneakers and heads to the foyer with Grim in tow, mumbling about his dissatisfaction at the thought of having to clean. This continued as they departed their dorm whilst waving to their ghost dorm mates, and Yuu pulled out the map of the campus. 

“Funagh, is that the map?” Grim asks, and Yuu was barely able to scramble to hold him as he jumped up into her arms. Breathing out a sigh of relief, she managed to find a balance of opening the map with one hand while keeping Grim steady in her left arm. The map itself was rather large, depicting various buildings of different sizes and positions. 

“Mhm, it looks like the campus is divided into the main building, then there’s west and east wings, this can be a proper castle. Wow, there’s so many fields, a pool, even a botanical garden?! Why is there, is that an armory icon…? Forget castle, this should be a town on its own. Who’s funding this campus, my goodness.” The gravel under her feet crunch as she continues her trek to the Night Raven College, and soon the grand, slightly ominous gates were stretched out for what seemed like forever on either side of her. She noted that there was a shortcut that was possible to get from the Ramshackle Dorm to the Library fairly quickly, but this way they would be able to better get a grasp of the size of the campus. The dark metal gates stand tall, and as Yuu pushes the gates open, they creak a dark tone as if to alert a guest has arrived. 

“Whoa, this is the Main Street?” Grim awed, and Yuu had to agree with him. Before them was a long, grand cobblestone road, lined European lampposts of the same hue of dark metal as the gates. Further on ahead, there looks to be seven statues, a few on either side, possibly of the same material. The greenery surrounded the entire area with trees and different assortments of flowers, and in the far background up ahead they could see the castle which is somehow a campus. Yuu let out a whistle, unable to contain herself at the sheer scale of everything.

“Let’s go get the supplies first, then we can scope it out,” Yuu stated as she didn’t give Grim a chance to wiggle loose out of her grip. Her feet carry them to the shed that Principal Crowley had stated, and the rather large but camouflaged shed stood there on its lonesome. Yuu tucks her map away into her many pockets, taking mental note that other than the Ramshackle Dorm, none of the other students’ place of residence didn’t seem to be listed. She lets go of Grim expecting him to help with the supplies, but instead he seems to have other plans as he promptly decides to scamper ahead towards the street they just were staring at. 

“Hey don’t go too far! Ugh hopefully he doesn’t cause much trouble…” Yuu mutters under her breath as she turns the wooden knob and pulls the door open. Inside the shed seemed to be forestry items along with cleaning gear. Mostly she was able to recognize the general shape, but there seemed to be some differences, like how the saw didn’t have a starter trigger, the lawn mower seemed to be more like a disc, and the like. Bits and bobs were lined up across the wall, but she was able to pick out the basic brooms, cloth, some polishing shine, and assumed that this...broom with a faucet was used to do a deeper clean of the cobblestone. Just as she was leaving, she spotted what looked to be an absurdly large conch shell with a spout like opening at top. Her hands thumb at the little tag around it’s thinnest part, reading “Flap down to put out fires.” 

“Well, it couldn’t hurt to bring this. I wonder if Grim’s ears would catch anything on fire,” Yuu talks to herself as she places the arm length conch under her arms, and balances herself to walk slowly over back to Main Street. Grim’s ears were easy enough to spot, and it made it that much easier to rejoin him. He was standing there with his arms crossed, staring up at one of the statues; Yuu follows his gaze, and she inhales a sharp breath. She recognized the statue of the woman holding a heart stick, and as she whips her head around in surprise, she realizes she recognizes all of them. Her head starts to pound, her hand instinctively massaging her temple to calm the sudden pain; she knew these statues, but it was as if the information was at the tip of her tongue and didn’t want to come out.

“I wasn’t paying attention yesterday, but who are these statues? There’s seven of them, but they all have scary faces. This lady in particular,” he states as he points his paw at the woman, no, the Queen, Yuu recalls, holding her heart stick, “looks high and mighty-dazo.” Yuu was about to answer Grim’s question, but her head gave a dull pain, and as her eyes scrunched to push the pain at bay as a young man’s voice cropped up from her right.

“You don’t know the Queen of Hearts?” 

Both she and Grim turn to see the owner of the voice, and it was a boy in a black Night Raven College uniform, a red inner vest, what appears to be a red jeweled brooch or perhaps a décor on a pen, and Yuu notes, a little bit taller than Kalim. But the most striking features this boy donned was his wavy orange hair, an easy-going smile, and the large heart mark painted on and around his left eye. There seemed to be an armband around his left arm as well, the deep red color matching his vest as part of his uniform. 

“The Queen of Hearts? Was she really important or something?” Grim asks innocently, showing genuine curiosity in what this boy had said. The boy’s eyes shift down to meet Grim’s, then looks back up towards the statue. Yuu sets down the cleaning supplies that she had brought over, figuring this conversation was going to be more than just a passing hello. She does, however, keep hold of the broom as her eyes scan the statues, wondering how to properly clean these as one ear listens in to the conversation.

“She was the Queen that long ago lived in the Rose Maze. She was extremely strict and upheld the law above all, and didn’t forgive any mishaps ranging from the March of Cards all the way down to the color of the roses. The entire country and its citizens were quite mad, but everyone of them was loyal to the core. You may ask why, well! It was because those who broke the law, had their heads chopped off right then and there!”

“That’s so scary-dazo!!”

“I think she’s pretty cool. I mean, who’s going to obey a queen that’s only kind, you know?” 

“True, strong leaders are better. Wait, who are you anyways?” 

“My name’s Ace, I’m a freshman here starting today. Nice to meet you!”

While Grim and Ace seemed to be chatting away about the Queen, Yuu had begun sweeping away the bits of light debris. As Ace continued to speak, her head seemed to swirl in circles as her memory seemed like a broken TV, with only the name ‘Mary’ coming back to her in any sort of solidarity. 

“I'm Grim! I’m the genius that’s going to be a great wizard! That dull human there is Yuu, my minion.” Her hands stop as she hears Grim make an absurd introduction of herself. Her eyes look back into Ace’s ruby red eyes, and she’s beginning to wonder if red eyes were the dominant traits in human biology here.

“Yuu? That’s a name you don’t hear in these parts.” Ace seemed to be curious about the name, and Yuu has to wonder if she’s in some sort of equivalent to an European area if that sounded unfamiliar to him. Which, if that’s the case she is even more confused as to why she hears him speaking Japanese. 

“I’m not a minion, but a pleasure.” Yuu sticks out her right hand, and Ace takes it in his. Yuu notes that his grip is a bit loose, typical for a teenage boy who doesn’t know how powerful a good handshake is. Hers tightens with one firm handshake, and as they both let go Ace looks at her with a puzzled expression as Grim’s voice rings back out.

“Hey Ace, is that lion over there with the scar over his eye also famous?” 

With that, Ace goes back to explaining each individual statue in great detail- the hardworking Lion king, the merciful Deep Sea Witch, the clever Advisor turned Sage, the dedicated Queen specializing in poisons, the reliable Ruler of the Underworld, and the noble and graceful Queen of Thorns. Grim was soaking up this information like a sponge, inserting comments here and there as he expressed his awe at their prowess and their sheer raw powers. Yuu had managed to sweep off the lighter dirt through the stretch between the statues, and though Yuu could tell that Ace truly respected each and every one of these people, she couldn’t help but wonder why he not once mentioned any of their names. Her own mind, like the Queen of Hearts, was able to dig out a name for each person amidst her mind fog: Scar, Ursula, Jafar, Grimhilde, Hades, Maleficent, and she managed to note that only with Hades’ name did her head not pound as much. Perhaps because he was tied to Greek mythology more so than anything more than….more than what, Yuu couldn’t think as her head decides to throb more than just a mild discomfort. 

“There’s so cool...unlike a racoon,” Ace smirked, and suddenly it was as if the skin of an mandarin orange had been peeled off. Yuu can’t help but lift an eyebrow as Grim makes a shocked noise followed by an annoyed glare, and Ace begins to burst out laughing; the easy-goingness was still there, just now he seemed like a much more cheeky teen than first impression. 

“Ahahahaha!!! I can’t hold it back anymore ahaha! Aren’t you guys the two that cause that absolute riot at yesterday’s entrance ceremony?”

Understanding dawns on her, and Yuu couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed in him. ‘Ah, he’s here to poke fun,’ Yuu thinks as she stops her movements, carefully eyeing Grim so that a repeat of said incident doesn't happen. 

“You,” Ace looks at her as he points his gloved finger at her which she thinks is quite rude, “the guy that was called by the Mirror of Darkness even though you don't have a single bit of magic, and you,” now he points to Grim, who anyone can visualize is steadily getting angrier, “a gate-crashing monster. Man, it was all I could do to not burst out laughing.”

“Wh- you’re so rude!” Grim seemed to find his voice, and Yuu had to agree that Ace was being rude, but it wasn’t anything she couldn't brush off, and judging by his pronoun use she felt a bit at ease at how the Binding Reflection is actually doing its job. 

“So, you both ended up not being able to enroll and are stuck on janitor duty? So lame.”

“~~~~!!” 

“On top of that you don’t even know about The Great Seven? Were you living under a rock? Before even considering coming to Night Raven College, I recommend starting back from kindergarten.” Ace was on a roll, as his taunts seemed to run off as smooth as velvet off his tongue, and Grim looked like he was about to explode. Yuu continued to stay silent, carefully watching the situation to see how it was going to play out as she swapped out the broom for the large conch shell.

“I thought I’d just tease you a little, but wow this was just above and beyond. Now, unlike you two I actually have classes to go to! Try and enjoy cleaning!”

“This guy!! I- “ “So what are their names?” Yuu cuts off Grim’s angry shout, which seems to stun him into silence as well as attract Ace's attention.

“What?” He huffs in a bit of...surprise? 

“Their names. The Great Seven. You described their traits, accomplishments, titles, but omitted their names. Why?” Yuu asks with as polite a smile as she could manage, not averting her brown eyes from Ace’s. The latter’s eyes seem to widen slightly before they return back to a mocking look. 

“What do you mean? They don’t have names.”

“Of course they do. If they lived and breathed on… whatever planet this is, then they are bound to have names. Especially Hades there,” Yuu points to the statue of who Ace had described as the Ruler of the Underworld, “he must be in your mythos somewhere, son of Cronus and Rhea, marrying Persephone; the others seem to have regional specifications, but the underworld seems vast and universal, so a common point amongst all seven. Or Mary, the Queen of Hearts you clearly have ample respect for.” She could tell Ace’s eyes were growing wider in disbelief as she continued her speech, and Yuu notes in the back of her mind that Greek mythology may not exist in the same line as Earth. Probably shouldn't pull this sorta stuff out without thought. It also registers in her peripherals that their discussion was starting to gather a crowd of onlookers, some whispering in disbelief at what she said. 

“That can’t be the Ruler of the Underworld’s name, right? Or the Queen’s?”

“But look at him - he doesn’t look like he’s kidding.” 

Whispers swirl around the three of them, but no matter. She continues with the same smile she had trained in the corporate world to deal with difficult customers as smoothly as possible.

“Now, I don’t particularly care if you mock me, I’ve got enough on my plate as it is. But, I would suggest refraining from insulting Grim, who although may not know your culture, is still a monster who impressively can speak in a tongue we all understand. Also, to not look down on janitorial job positions, who are the reason you aren’t walking on top of chewed up gum right now. It’s basic manners, which I believe you would learn perhaps... in preschool? Now, why don’t you run off to class, and let us do our job in peace.” 

There was a moment of silence, and Yuu inwardly scolded herself for taking it a little too far, but this boy really needed to learn some manners now otherwise he was going to go downhill in society. Then, an ‘ooooooooh’ rings out from the crowd, and Ace’s face flares as he realizes the diss that he was just thrown. “Why you- “ his hand reaches to his breast pocket and takes out the red ruby brooch which Yuu could now confirm was attached to the pen, his nose bridge scrunched in irritation. 

“Funa-----!!” Before Ace could make another move, Yuu felt in order- a sudden weight on her right shoulder, a blast of hot flame jetting out much too close to her ear for comfort, and then the weight kicked itself off, and in front of her was Grim’s back, his paw pointing at Ace who had managed to dodge the flames.

“Ga! That was close… what do you think you’re doing!?” Ace shouted in surprise at the smaller creature in front of him. Yuu also couldn’t cover her surprise either, as Grim’s voice rings out, 

“Anyone who tries to hurt my minion, has to go through me! I’m gonna make your hair explode!” Yuu couldn’t help her heart swell slightly at the gesture, and Ace’s gaze is now fully focused on Grim.

“Oho, you’ve got some nerve to try and take me on. Alright then, prepare to become a ratty toy poodle!” As Ace steps up to Grim’s taunt, Yuu had about a second to step out of the way as the two of them start spitting out spells; while Grim blasted out his signature blue fire, it seemed Ace’s thing was air, or was it wind? Yuu couldn’t see the mechanics of what Ace was doing, but she was sure that the bejeweled pen he was holding was definitely a wand of sorts, and it was making the flames go away from him. Yuu looks around at the crowd that gathered, egging them both to fight and she was absolutely gobsmacked for a split second to see that one of the boys (who she noted had a yellow sash) had some sort of animal ears. Animal ears, she couldn’t believe it; were there different species of humans then? Was it some sort of evolutionary divergence? Her swirling mind was brought back when she heard both Grim and Ace shout, and her eyes saw that the Queen of Hearts statue had caught on fire. Quickly, she rushes out and holds out the conch, pushing down the flap as hard as she could. A jet of water jetted out of the tip whilst lurching her backward with the kickback, the stream instantly crashing into the blue flames, and just as quick as it started the fire was out. A moment of silence returns briefly, then Ace and Grim begin to shout at each other about who was at fault - Ace blaming Grim for his fire, Grim saying it’s because Ace switched the trajectory with the wind...

“WHAT IS ALL THIS COMMOTION!!” 

Principal Crowley’s shout reverberates throughout Main Street, and the crowd that gathered dispersed in a heartbeat, leaving Grim, Ace and Yuu the only ones there. Yuu surveyed the damage done to the stone statue- yes it was a little charred, but not as bad it could’ve been without the conch shell, and probably could be cleaned up with some polishing gear...maybe. 

“Crap, it’s the Principal.”

“He’s gonna use the whip of love! Gotta run,” Grim was able to finish his sentence and that was as far as he got before said whip of love came down on the two of them. Their screams of surprise ring for a split second as they remain where they stand.

“If you think you can run away from me, you’re out of your mind. Now,” Principal Crowley stares at both Grim and Ace, knowing full well that those two were the ones that were behind the mess. His shoulders slump a little as he lets a deep breath out of his nose.

“Didn’t I just say ‘don’t cause a ruckus’ earlier this morning? And on top of that the statue of the Great Seven is charred. Without Yuu’s quick thinking with the water conch, it might have been scorched beyond repair! You,” he takes turns staring at either Grim or Ace, “really must want to get expelled don’t you?” 

“?! No, please don’t do that!” Grim looked teary-eyed, and even Ace looked panicked. 

“Yuu, now... even though you managed to stop their little tiff’s mess from being bigger than it was, this really can’t be considered as doing your job of keeping your eye on Grim.” His approach to Yuu was a little softer, probably taking into account that it seemed like the statue was mildly burned, but the disappointment was still there. Yuu nodded, honestly stating her apologies, which seemed to satisfy him.

“Now, you. Name and year.”

“Ace Trappola. First year.”

Ace’s last name reminded Yuu of a deck of cards, and she couldn’t help but think he had all the qualifications to meet the criteria for the ace of hearts. Her train of thought was interrupted soon after, as Principal Crowley opened his mouth once again,

“Now then, Trappola-kun, Grim-kun, and Yuu-kun. To make up for this mess, you all are going to collectively clean 50 windows as punishment.”

“What!? But it’s this guy’s fault for dissing us in the first place!”

“Me too?!”

It seems that the two actual perpetrators of the incident have a few gripes of the punishment; both Ace and Grim are grimacing with all their might with their facial muscles since the rest of their body is still stuck in their positions. 

“Of course you have to! If it was any more burnt than this I’d have made it 100 so be grateful! Now, after classes are done you are to meet me at the cafeteria, is that understood?” Principal Crowley specifically looks at Ace, presumably because he is the only one with actual classes. Said Ace whines out a “yes”, and with the snap of Principal Crowley’s fingers, both of them seem to be released from the whip’s binding. Ace glares one last time at Grim, then turns to look at Yuu with an indiscernible glance before rushing towards the main building. The dark chimes of the school’s warning bell ring from the campus, and Yuu’s eyes scan over to her wristwatch- 7:55. The hustle bustle of the morning walk to school seems to transverse over to the main campus, and soon enough the Main Street was tranquil.

“Now, the both of you. I will fix the statue this time, but do not let this happen again, understand? I do not care who started what, or for what reason. These statues are an important part of the campus, so please treat them with respect.” Principal Crowley flicks his walking stick once, and the slight chars on the Queen of Hearts statue disappear. 

“Yes, sir.” Yuu answers for the both of them, and Principal Crowley walks away with a billow in his cloak. Only Yuu and Grim were left in the middle of Main Street, and now that the area was devoid of others, the task of cleaning this seemed daunting. She looks down at Grim, and smiles.

“Thanks Grim, for doing that.” Her thanks were genuine, and perhaps it was that, or perhaps it was the fact that they were still at the school and not getting kicked out, but she could have sworn Grim looked a bit embarrassed. “It was...brave of you to do that.” She was going to state ‘kind’, but figured this would be a much better way to get his mood up, and sure enough Grim was already puffing out his chest.

“Of course! I’m going to be a Great Wizard, and a Great Wizard is going to need his minions to be in tip-top shape!” 

“I’m not your minion, but now the Great Wizard has to help clean Main Street so that we can get some delicious lunch, and practice some magic.” Yuu chuckles as Grim’s face contorts automatically at the wash cloth she pushes out towards him. Even though he grumbles he still took the cloth and began to wipe the newly repaired Queen of Hearts statue, and Yuu couldn’t help but be hopeful that maybe this incident will improve their teamwork. Keeping him out of trouble would be a definite plus.

* * *

Lunch was forewarned by the deep and fortissimo growl emanating from Grim’s small stomach, and with all of the science in the world Yuu didn’t think anyone would be able to explain the disparity of size and volume. 

“Gah! I can’t move anymore-dazo! I want food! Is it lunchtime yet?” Grim’s shoulders visibly dropped as if the cloth in his hands weighed 50 kilos instead of the 5 grams it probably is. Yuu can’t help letting out a sigh as she lifts her wrist to see it was 1:00PM, and her eyes scan over their accomplishments thus far - they had managed to do a fair deep clean of the entire street amidst some lapses in concentration, and all that was left was to do spot checks and take care of any mess that undoubtedly would appear while they’re away. 

“Hhhhmmm...well, let’s go put this away and _then_ it’ll be lunchtime, what do you say?”

He didn’t say anything; Grim moved at the speed of light as he rushed to the shed with as much as he could carry, and Yuu figured that was as good an answer as she ever was going to get. She could hear him yelling at her to hurry up, and she was not about to deny a hungry monster their hard-earned food. Pretty soon, the both of them found themselves at the footsteps of the gargantuan castle, Yuu once again having her breath taken away by it all. While she couldn’t help but think it seemed of German build, she also had to inwardly slap herself that Germany probably didn’t exist here. 

“Wow…” 

That was the comment that was on her lips as they entered the castle-campus, which had opened up to a large entrance hall with ceilings so high she could barely make out the tops of the black chandeliers above. Her feet moved after Grim’s four-legged sprint up the spiraled staircase towards the cafeteria, and she couldn’t fathom the amount of money it would cost to even rent a section of this space let alone own and maintain everything. The cafeteria was also a sight to behold, as multiple long ebony tables lined the large, extremely spacious area with multitudes of chandeliers giving off a strange iridescent light. If she had to venture a guess, this would be suitable for a ballroom, not a lunchroom. 

“Funaa, where’s the food-dazo!?”

Grim had scampered off towards what appeared to be different stations lined at the edge of said ballroom, and seemed to be on the precipice of despair as it was devoid of any food contents. 

“Oh, you must be the new hires.”

“Gyaaaaa!! Ghost!!” 

Grim screamed in surprise, and sure enough there was another ghost right behind them. Unlike the trio at the dorm, this one had a chef’s top hat and an apron around its...waist...hips...mid-section, Yuu settled on finally in her mind. The ghost chuckled at Grim’s reaction, and turned to look towards her, and she could feel their assessing gaze. She instinctively reaches out her hand,

“Hello, I'm Yuu and this is my partner, Grim. We’re here to satiate his operatic stomach growl, a pleasure to make your acquaintance...uhm…”

“Oh, Jerry is fine. Crowley was right, you are an interesting one,” the ghost, Jerry, reached out and grabbed her hand in what can be described as if one sticks their hand in an ice bucket.

“Now, the students get a buffet style, but teachers and faculty get a choice from the menu here,” Jerry says as a menu suddenly appears in mid-air at eye-level, and Yuu couldn’t contain her surprise; she was once again surprised that the menu had also been written in Japanese. Jerry seemed to find this amusing, as he was having serious trouble containing his chuckles, managing to only show this by his vaguely shaking ghost shoulders. 

“Funaagh!! Yuu, Yuu! Is there a giant tuna can on there??” Grim perked up as the menu appeared, and instantly flew up into Yuu’s arms. Though Yuu’s a little surprised that this creature that so openly jumped into her arms now was the exact same one that threatened to turn her extra crispy just the night before, she wasn’t about to complain. 

“I want this fancy tuna sandwich! And scrambled eggs! And this bread bowl thing!” As Grim continues to almost drool over the menu and subsequently all over Yuu’s arm, her eyes shift over to Jerry questioning silently if it was alright for him to order this much. As if to respond, Jerry continues his explanation.

“Now, you can choose up to two things each on the menu and that is your madol budget set by Crowley. So, little Grim, you’re going to have to give up on one of those. And what would you like to have, little Yuu?” 

“I’ll have… the onion soup bread bowl, and this salad please.” 

“Yuu! Can you share the bread bowl with me?” 

“Sure, after I eat my portion.” As Grim seemed satisfied with that answer, the menu disappeared in front of her very eyes with a pop, and Jerry nods in understanding. 

“Now, your food is going to appear at the table here where the trays are in a few minutes. We’re a little busy prepping for second lunch right now, but if you have any questions I am happy to answer them.” Before Yuu had noticed, there were two silver trays that had appeared on the table in front of them. As Grim stood on the table impatiently, Yuu took a seat across from Jerry. ‘He’s quite kind, maybe Principal Crowley told him I’m new here…?’ she thought as she tried to stop herself from blurting out every single question she had of the place, which was, everything.

“Um, how are we communicating? Do you speak uhm…?” She was about to say Japanese, but then again this Twisted Wonderland didn't seem to have Japan in existence, so she had no idea what to call her language. A few seconds pass in silence, and suddenly Jerry bursts into full belly laughter. Both Yuu and Grim don identical looks of surprise, but by jove she was going to solve everything she could in this strange world she was sucked into.

“Oh, oh I’m so sorry, I just haven’t received that kind of question in so long. I am sure Crowley didn’t explain...anything?” She nods a little and Jerry, satisfied with a large smirk, continues.

“He can be like that when he’s a little surprised, or he’s got his head in some situation or another. Anyways, so like most things in this academy, it's magic. You’ve heard that students from all over the world are brought here?” Yuu nods, prompting him to continue. “That means that there is no way that every student speaks the same language, right? In the foundational stones of this school are linguistic runes, which I don’t know who put it in but someone mentioned while eating, I believe a beef casserole. But these runes convert any sort of conversation between people, as well as written text, into a language that the individual has been exposed to for the last four years. For most students, that would be their native tongue. Or, they hear Elemental Basic, which is the same language that most people cast spells with here. It’s also the common language through I believe the Rose Kingdom and its surrounding regions? Of course, if two people decide to speak their native tongue only to each other it seems that people around them don’t understand them? It’s a little complicated for me.” 

To say that Yuu was simultaneously trying to swallow what must’ve been a year’s worth of information and to not seem like it was the biggest shock of her life was an understatement. ‘That makes sense why everything I hear and read is all in Japanese…’ she thought, and she made another mental note that Elemental Basic seemed to be the equivalent of what English is, judging by how she understood Principal Crowley’s ritual. 

“Now, do you have another question? I think we have time for one more before your food is ready to go and I am needed,” Jerry’s eyes seem to sparkle in amusement, as if he was a child playing with a new toy. Grim simply grumbles, becoming more and more deflated as he stares at the still empty silver platter; if his eyes could shoot out fire he would’ve burned a hole through the platter and into the table. 

“Uh, yes. What is this…’madol’? Is that the currency here…?” 

Jerry nods a little in acknowledgment.

“Yes, so Madol is the currency, and they sort of looks like this,” in the moment Jerry conjures up a wisp of what appears to be a couple bills marked 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, as well as different types of coins with small 1, 5, 10, 50 floating around, and all Yuu could do is stare in absolute awe. “Most things at the academy are on a discount, but on average today’s meal for you both would have cost about 600 madol. If say you want to buy something expensive, you would use the 10,000 madol bill and get the change. You can also buy supplies at Sam’s shop down the road, but that would come out of your own pocket and not out of the food budget set up for you both. Ah! Speaking of food, it looks like lunch is served.” 

As Jerry cheerfully opens his left arm, Yuu’s nose is greeted with the fresh scent of crunchy baguette bread bowl, the fresh smell of onion soup complete with cheese, and a freshly made salad filled with various vegetation. Grim’s cry of joy was evident as he started shoving a very fancy looking tuna sandwich into his mouth. “Thank you Jerry, this looks absolutely delicious,” Yuu thanks to her ghostly friend, and Jerry nods in appreciation. 

“Now, I must be off. Second lunch is going to start at 1:35, so as long as you guys are done by 1:30 it should be no problem. Please, enjoy!” With that, Jerry floats through the table, which Yuu had to wonder when she was going to get used to this ghost thing, and it was just her and Grim left. As she mumbles an ‘ _itadakimasu_ ’, she brings the soup to her mouth, and instantly she feels herself warm up. This was certainly going to keep her full for the remainder of the day, even if she knows just by how Grim was inching over with sparkles in his eyes, that probably half of this bread bowl was going to land inside this one’s stomach.

* * *

“Man I’m already so exhausted from cleaning all day, and now we have to do 50 more windows? So laaaaaame.” Grim grumbles for what seems to be the 50th time of the day, and Yuu is starting to master the technique of ‘soothing the Grim’. 

“Hey now, it could’ve been 100, let’s take a win where we can get one yeah?” 

The pair were back in the empty cafeteria several hours after their satisfying lunch. Unfortunately some students had decided to spill some fluorescent looking drink onto the cobblestones here and there, and it ended up taking them until 3:00PM to complete not only what they were planning on, but the additional workload. Luckily Principal Crowley had somehow (probably magically) popped in right at 3:00, and had praised them for their good first day of work, so she let it be. It was probably some teenage boy who'd been there that morning. And now, the both of them were at the cafeteria as promised, with Principal Crowley saying he will come back in about 20 minutes to assign them a section of the windows. Her eyes shift to her wristwatch - 3:10PM. The school bell rang out, and they could hear increased footsteps and miscellaneous voices fill out the hallway. Yuu absentmindedly brings her right hand to the uniform’s neckline, forgetting for a brief moment that she had tucked away her necklace in the drawer back at the dorm for safekeeping. A few minutes pass by in relative silence before Grim speaks out again, 

“Ace is really late. He’s got some nerve making me wait! Grrr…” 

Yuu hums back in response, giving Ace the benefit of the doubt that this is a rather large campus and, well he did say it was his first day here. Perhaps he got lost? A minute, and yet another, passes by, and finally Grim’s patience wanes completely.

“Okay, there’s no way he is this late. He better not have run away! How dare he just shove his work on us and leave!” With Grim’s comment, she could feel a slow smile creep onto her own face. She turns to Grim, and opens her mouth, 

“Why don’t we go look for him, and remind him of his duties?” 

“Minion, just sometimes, you make sense. Come on, let’s go grab Ace and make him wash windows.” She was sure that Grim’s wide, slightly evil grin was mirroring her own. It’s high time this cocky teen learns to take some sort of responsibility. The two of them head out of the cafeteria, and manage to somehow get to the first classroom they see without many wrong turns. Grim barges in as the door seems to respond magically to his paw, answering another one of Yuu’s questions of how Grim opens doors using his small paws that definitely don’t have thumbs. 

“HEY! BRING OUT ACE! IF YOU’RE HIDING HIM YOU’RE GONNA G--- wait, the room is already empty?”

“I’m still here you know.”

“Funaaaaa! The picture talked?!” In order, Grim had barged into an empty classroom, and Yuu had been so taken by the strange purple...globe artifact on the shelf that she barely registered that he had been surprised at the talking painting. At this point, Yuu just was able to accept that yes, paintings must talk. It reminded her of her favorite fantasy series, and frankly it was the least surprising bit next to...well, Grim. 

“Hey now, it’s not rare to have talking pictures in this academy. That noble lady over there, and that gentlemen over on that wall, we all talk. We all have mouths, so it’s normal that we use them, no?” The monocled gentleman in the painting continues his speech as Grim is, shockingly, left speechless for once. 

“Are you friends with Jerry?” Yuu takes the reins on this one, and the monocled gentleman shifts his eyes to her. 

“Jerry? Oh, the kitchen ghost. Yes, but unlike him and the other ghosts that are just wandering around without any sort of calm, I have been sitting put on this wall for over 50 years in peace. Are you two looking for someone?” This query seemed to jog Grim out of his stupor, and he responded instead.

“We’re looking for a guy named Ace-dazo. He has a heart on his face, and really messy hair!”

“If it helps, he has red eyes like rubies, and orange hair reminiscent of a carrot cake.” 

She doesn’t know which comment did the trick, but the monocled gentleman started to chuckle. 

“Oh, yes I do know actually. He’s one of the new students that started off today, right? He was in here for orientation. It seemed like he was heading towards his dorm just a bit ago though…”

“What?! I knew that jerk ran off-dazo! Do you know which way he went?!” 

“Oh, the doors to the dorms are over at the far end of the east wing.”

“Yuu, let’s go chase him down!” Without waiting for her, Grim was on all fours running out. Yuu is only a second delayed, making sure to state her quick thanks to the gentleman before running after Grim. He was much faster on all-fours, and she was absolutely glad that at the moment she was much younger, because there was absolutely no way her 27 year old body would’ve been able to even keep him in her sights. Weaving in and out of students and shouting a few ‘excuse me’s’ to passerby, she and Grim managed to end up at the far end of the east wing, and just in front of what appeared to be a large chamber labelled “Hall of Mirrors,” there in front of them was a familiar orange-haired boy. 

“HEY YOU!!!!!” Grim’s voice boomed from his small body, and Ace turned around looking surprised at being caught. 

“Geez, you found me?!” 

“Hey, you! It’s not fair you trying to slack off on your own! I want to slack off too!!”

“Heh! Screw that, I’m not sticking around!” And just like that, Ace and Grim make a mad dash into the chamber, and Yuu could only internally shake her head at Grim’s very apparent desire to slack off on duties. Perhaps she needed to bribe him with a tuna can; she hadn’t done that yet this afternoon. As Yuu entered, she just caught sight of Ace dashing and aiming towards one of the archways, Grim following close behind, and what seemed to be the poor unfortunate bystander that happened to be standing there. She only had a brief moment to acknowledge this boy also had some sort of face paint, before shouting “Please stop him! He’s trying to skirt his cleaning duties!” The raven-haired boy seemed surprised at her shout, and soon after all Yuu could do was stare in shock, as moments later, Ace was being squashed by a literal black cauldron that fell out of midair. A squished Ace groans underneath the weight, also seemingly shocked at a literal cauldron sitting atop him. 

“Ahahaha, Yuu look! Ace is squashed like a pancake under that cauldron! So lame-dazo!” Yuu sends him a side eye look for him to cool his very evident joy a little, and sighs as she begins to lift the side of the cauldron off of Ace’s body. She could hear the other boy, who had eyes that were like aquamarines, mumbling his own surprise that a cauldron popped out, and she couldn’t help but wonder why he seemed shocked in the first place. With a grunt, she managed to shift the cauldron off of Ace, and without a single word of thanks, he stands up as he dusts himself off. His eyes thin into a form of glare towards her, 

“Geez, why can’t you guys just clean 50 windows like that,” Ace mumbles as he snaps his fingers. Yuu had to breathe in deeply to control her frustration; this kid was doing a really good job pressing her buttons.

“First of all, I’m the reason we are stuck with only doing 50 instead of 100. Second, we can’t just snap our fingers, who do you think we are, Houdini? Third, it’s the Principal’s orders, and are you really going to disobey the Principal after this morning?” She lists off the reasons as she counts them off with her thumb, index and middle fingers, and Ace proceeds to grumble. She pointedly ignores him mouthing 'Houdini' questioningly.

“What...what did you guys do to even have to clean 50 windows, let alone 100…?” The other boy’s calm voice asks, his arms crossed across his chest. His armband matched Ace’s, and Yuu wonders if they are in the same class. 

“The furball there and I were just playing around, and we may have just... burned the Queen of Hearts’ statue...a bit.” 

“You damaged the statue of the Great Seven!? No wonder you got scolded. What are you even doing, you just got into this prestigious academy....” The other boy, whose facial paint of a spade was a lot larger than Yuu had noted before, seemed to be both simultaneously surprised and done with Ace. 

“Hey this guy here blasted it with water so it didn’t do much damage, so shut up. Who the hell are you anyway?” 

“I’m Deuce. Deuce Spade… try to make an effort to remember your classmate’s face why don’t you? Uhm…”

“You don’t remember either, pot calling the kettle back much.” 

“A-anyways! If it’s the Principal’s orders, you better do it properly.” 

Yuu watched their interaction silently, appreciating that Deuce seemed to have an ounce of sensibility, despite the earlier drop of a very literal cauldron. She mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ to Deuce, who seemed to catch on and nodded back. It seems his words reached Ace though, since the orange-haired boy was scratching his head in a sense of reluctant acceptance. Yuu looked down expecting to see Grim, but the grey cat creature had seemingly disappeared from Ace’s side. 

“Alright alright, fine. Let’s just get started then...wait.” 

Yuu couldn’t help but pinch the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh of frustration as Ace shouted the very apparent absence of the ever loud Grim. The two boys head to the nearest window, and Yuu follows; she was able to spot through the corner that Grim, with his very apparent flaming ears, was walking down Main Street. ‘That cat isn’t getting a tuna can today that’s for sure,’ she thought as she began to head out of the Hall of Mirrors. 

“That little shit, he set me up to escape?! You, uh, Juice.”

“It’s DEUCE, not JUICE!” 

“Whatever, you’ve got a hand in this too, so you better help capture that furball!” 

“Why?!”

Deuce, who seemed very rightfully offended at the mispronunciation of his name, glared at Ace’s declaration. She stops her steps, holding open the door ready to leave. Ace sighs once more, turning to fully face Deuce, and throws his thumb behind him to indicate her. 

“That dull-looking one can’t use magic so he’s useless! Let’s go!” Ace's comment felt like a bucket of ice water was thrown at her face, and she was unable to stop her shoulders from tensing for the briefest of moments. Ace, preoccupied with chasing Grim, rushed out without further delay ignoring her. Deuce, after the briefest moment of looking at her, sighs and follows. Yuu, for her part, decides that she’s going to just head back to the cafeteria lest the Principal already be there fuming at their absence. Her footsteps feel heavy as she walks out of the Hall of Mirrors into the now much quieter, carpeted hallway. 

‘Useless...well, makes sense. In a magical school, someone without magic would be useless. Right,’ Yuu’s thoughts circle through as she tries to sort out this information in some sort of logical sense. But, she couldn’t deny that on top of being thrown into this unknown world of crazy things, she didn’t need someone to tell her that she was useless on top of it all. She couldn’t help letting out another deep sigh, willing herself to half-forcibly shove her negative feelings down. 

“Oh, Yuu-kun! Fancy running into you here, but why aren’t you in the cafeteria?” 

Yuu looks up, and she realizes that she almost ran head first into Principal Crowley. She moves her head to the side, and realizes she must’ve gone past the cafeteria while she was deep in her thoughts. 

“Oh, Principal Crowley. Thank you for setting up our lunch, it was quite delicious.” 

“Oh don’t worry! Even though there was the morning incident, you both did a very good job with the Main Street so I daresay you deserved that lunch. By the way, where is Grim-kun?” Yuu resigns herself, and she decided she was not going to bother covering up what just happened.

“Care to walk while I explain?”

“Fufu, please.” Principal Crowley seemed to enjoy the irony that they seemingly switched roles from the previous evening, and his gloved hand gestures forward with his palm. She nods, and begins to inform him of Ace’s attempt at skirting his responsibilities, then Grim escaping, and now Ace and Deuce chasing down Grim to bring him back to the cafeteria. It was visibly evident that Principal Crowley was also getting fed up with their reactions.

“And why aren’t you chasing Grim-kun?”

“Since I’m ‘useless’ as a non-magic user, I figured the best way I could help was by filling you in while those two catch Grim. I can’t reach him when he’s running on all fours.” As she arrived in front of the cafeteria double doors, Yuu realized that Principal Crowley had stopped a little bit behind her. She can hear him sigh in some sort of indiscernible emotion, and then he slowly comes in front of her, forcing her to look up to him to stare into his yellow eyes. ‘They look like fireflies, no, citrine?’ she thought absentmindedly, and she faintly registers that he was speaking to her.

“...understand?” Yuu wasn’t about to admit that she wasn't paying attention, so she did the next best thing and nodded. This seems to satisfy Principal Crowley as a smile stretches across his face. 

“Right, now le-” that’s about as far as he got before the both of them heard a thunderous crash through the double doors. Instantly, Principal Crowley slams open the cafeteria doors, and the sight that greeted them was shocking to say the least. There was Deuce, standing with his bejeweled pen, Ace shouting at him about something or another, and Grim sprawled out clearly unconscious. All amidst a giant billow of mist as what seemed like thousands of shards of glass were sprayed under the broken chandelier on the ground. 

“WHAT IN MERLIN’S NAME ARE YOU DOING!!!!!” Principal Crowley absolutely explodes, raising his voice to such a high volume that it instantly makes the other two boys stiffen up. Yuu rushes over to the broken chandelier, carefully but hastily removing the glass debris off of Grim’s furred body with a couple flicks of her hand, and bringing his unconscious body to her face to hear his breathing. To say she felt immense relief to hear him was an understatement, and she vows that once she’s done with her job tomorrow to learn how to tell a cat’s pulse, or a Grim’s pulse, was going to be the first thing she studies. She realized that Principal Crowley had just said _Merlin_ ’s name as if it were a swear word; perhaps there was a version of Merlin in this world as well? She was going to have to research that later… As she held Grim’s unconscious self close to her, she could hear Principal Crowley dishing out an expulsion declaration above her. 

“No! Please! I still have things I need to accomplish here!” Deuce’s earnestness and genuine desperation were apparent in his tone, and judging by the paleness on Ace’s face he is feeling similar emotions. Though she wasn’t there, did this also mean she and Grim will be thrown out of Ramshackle Dorm as well...she didn’t want to find out. 

“You only have yourselves to blame, doing something so stupid.”

“Please, if you forgive us I’ll pay for repairs, anything!”

Principal Crowley sighs, but he must be used to this because he seems unmoved as he crosses his arms.

“This chandelier isn’t just some old chandelier. This is a magical chandelier, using magic as its power source so that it’s light never gives out. It’s a one of a kind item made by a legendary magical item meister. It’s been handed down from principal to principal since the beginning…” he takes a breath before continuing, “Thinking about it’s historical value, this would value no less than 10 million madol. And you think you can just, pay it back?” 

Yuu couldn’t help gulping down the panic that threatened to come out. There was absolutely no way that two teenage kids, let alone herself even if she did have access to her bank account back on Earth, would be able to pay that.

“B-but. Wouldn’t you be able to fix it with magic?” Ace was trying to be optimistic, snapping his fingers like he had done earlier. Deuce looked miserable, and Yuu couldn’t blame him. Her eyes shifted around her, glad that her work uniform was thick enough to not get cut by the glass surrounding them, and she was able to pick up a faint glow. Ignoring the slight sting of a cut, she pulls out a teardrop shaped stone with a deep gouging crack from the tip trickling to the side. The stone was faintly vibrating in her palm, the faint colors of yellow, blue and pink flickering for the briefest moment before it completely turned into an opaque white. Instinctively, she knows that whatever this was, was no longer there. 

“Magic isn’t all-powerful. On top of that,” Principal Crowley’s gaze shifts to her for the first time, and he points to the stone that she was holding in her palm, “the magic stone, the heart as you will, is cracked. There are no two same magic stones in existence. This chandelier...will never light again.” 

She could hear the disappointment in the other two’s voices, and Yuu couldn’t help but feel a bit saddened over this cracked stone, that just a few hours earlier lit the beautiful chandelier above them as they ate lunch here. Carefully balancing Grim in her right arm, she brings the stone to her heart, muttering a small apology. Principal Crowley surveys the three of them, and she doesn’t know if he picked up what they all said, but suddenly it seemed like he had a lightbulb moment.

“There may just be a way to fix the chandelier.” 

“What?!”

Ace, Deuce, and Yuu all exclaim in surprise. He’d just spent the past ten or so minutes lecturing them about the inevitability of the chandelier, and now there’s the slightest bit of hope? There was no way they were going to pass this up.

“The magic stone used in this chandelier was mined in the Dwarfs’ Mine. If you’re able to get a magic stone with the same properties, there is a chance this can be repaired.” 

“I’ll go get the magic stone! Please let me go!” Deuce declares without a moment of hesitation, aquamarine eyes narrowing in determination. Ace’s ruby eyes seemed much more pensive, carefully waiting for Principal Crowley’s next words. 

“But, there is no guarantee that a magic stone will be at the mine. It’s been awhile since that mine was closed, and it’s more than likely that there’s no more magic stones left.” 

“If you rescind my expulsion, I’ll do anything!” 

“...fine. I will wait one night. If you don’t bring a magic stone by tomorrow morning, your expulsions stand.” 

“Thank you!” 

“Haaa… man. Let’s just go and get the magic stone.” Though Principal Crowley seemed moved by Deuce’s determination and caved into waiting a fortnight, Ace’s attitude seemed unmoved. Yuu stands up, carefully placing the broken magic stone on the table before patting her uniform to get stray glass bits off, and nods at the both of them. Grim’s her responsibility- even if she is next to useless in terms of magic, she’d help them out. She doesn’t want them to be expelled simply because they tried to catch her counterpart. 

“You should be able to reach the Dwarf Mines quickly if you use the Mirror of Darkness in the Mirror Chamber.” 

With one last voice, Deuce heads out of the cafeteria in a hurry, and Ace is close to follow. In her arms, Grim stirs awake, mumbling asking what happened. “We’re going to go on an adventure,” she whispers, turning her attention back onto Principal Crowley, who was fast repairing the glass of the chandelier in front of her eyes. 

“Sir, may I keep this broken magic stone for reference? So that we know what we are looking for in the mines.” 

Principal Crowley temporarily stops his ministrations to look at her, and nods as he opens his mouth, “Yes, please. Make sure those two don’t fall in a ditch or anything. We’ll consider your status when you come back, but...be safe.” She can’t help but feel he was treating her kinder than towards the boys, but she’ll take it for now. She pockets the magic stone carefully into her left breast pocket, and rushes out to chase the two boys to the Mirror Chamber with Grim still in her arms. 

A few minutes later, Yuu arrived as the two boys stared at the Mirror of Darkness, presumably waiting for the both of them. Ace was still mumbling about his rotten luck, but that was to be expected at this point. Deuce, who noticed that Yuu and Grim had entered the chamber, turns towards the Mirror and shouts, 

“There’s no time for complaining, we got to go! Mirror of Darkness! Take us all to the Dwarfs’ Mine!” 

Yuu tentatively closes in behind them, and she sees the mirror suddenly rippling from a dim white light. Before she was able to ask what she was supposed to do, the light enveloped the four of them and sucked them in, and all she could do was shut her eyes tight and hope for everything that they landed safely, somewhere. She only hoped it was on solid ground.


	3. Magic Stone Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ragtag group of three humans and a Grim adventure to the Dwarfs' Mine to hopefully not get expelled.

The first thing she realizes is that her feet land softly on top of soft, grassy ground. She slowly opens her eyes, and takes in the surroundings - the four of them were standing in the middle of what can only be described as a thicket in the woods, grand trees surrounding them as a small river flows quietly past, a small wooden bridge to cross said river, and what appears to be a single cottage in its lonesome. 

“So, this is the Dwarfs' Mine… I heard that a while ago it was quite well-off with jobs thanks to mining out magic stones but…” Deuce trailed off, and Yuu couldn’t help but nod in what was left unsaid. It seemed too quiet...there wasn’t a single noise besides the river flowing- no wind, no insects, no creatures. The only indication of life were the lush green trees, and judging by how the ground underneath sunk slightly, it probably had rained recently.

“I feel like something is going to come out-dazo” Grim whined, his eyes going teary at the thought of potential ghosts. Yuu couldn’t help but pat his back in encouragement. 

“Hey, let’s go check out the house there. Maybe someone’s there.” Ever optimistic sounding, Ace leads the short walk to the cottage in the woods. As the group of them got closer, the fading paint and disrepair were evident. Deuce, ever the first to act, gives a steady knock on the door.

“Hello? Oh, the door’s unl-- hey, this place looks abandoned.” As Deuce opens the cottage door, Yuu is able to see the cobweb ridden interior, furniture lay completely forgotten, walls stained in what must be years upon years of rain seeping through without proper care. As she takes one step into the cottage, she began to feel light-headed as the air seems to have stayed there, heavy with dust and abandonment. She proceeds to walk towards the other side, and with a bit of struggle opens the window; the fresh air from outside gives her a slight reprieve, and she can’t help but sigh. 

“Eck! Cobwebs in my mouth! Ewww”

“Isn’t everything kind of small? Maybe they were for kids? One...Two...Seven?! Damn!” 

“This house must’ve been so lively when the Dwarfs’ Mine was at their peak.”

As she hears the conversation going on behind her it suddenly became muffled as she was hit by a wave of dizziness that made her sway on the spot. It was all she could do to tighten her grip on the window sill to not fall. She squeezes her eyes shut to drive it away, but all it does is give her a barrage of voices. Voices of laughter, a woman’s voice singing, birds chirping swirling all around her, as if they were stamps in time that had remained just as the air staled in the cottage. As she slowly opened her eyes, she caught a glimpse of silvery outlines of seven dwarves, all with pickaxes and seemingly different shades of the same outfit, marching out from the edge of the cottage wall towards deeper into the woods whistling a familiar sounding tune. However, as soon as she blinked, the scene was gone as was the dizziness, and in front of her was the dark forest; she was now able to pick out that there was a pebbled road that seemed to lead out of the cottage. ‘Maybe that’s the way to the mines…’ she thinks to herself.

“Hey, you alright?” Yuu turns to her left, and it was Ace looking at her with an expression that she daresay looked concerned. “You’re gripping that window sill for life there,” he points to her hands. She wasn’t about to let him get worried on her behalf.

“I’m fine, but look,” she beckons Ace to the window as she sticks her right arm out, and as he leans out the window as well she continues, “If this was the miners’ cottage, wouldn’t that road lead to the mines?” After a beat of silence, Ace nods in agreement. “Let’s go check it out then,” he states, and the group walks through the abandoned cottage to the backend. Yuu takes one last look behind her, noting that there was an upright piano in the corner; recalling the earlier voices, they must’ve been playing it every night, dancing and enjoying life. ‘I wonder if the tuning’s fixed...no, stone first, piano later.’

The crunching of pebbles reverberating under their feet in the silent woods comes to a halt as the four of them end up at what appears to be a very moss covered, very clearly abandoned mine. Yuu notes that it must’ve been the years of weather, but there were multitudes of large rocks above the mine that looked a bit unsteady for her liking. Vines loop about the entrance, and the four of them could clearly tell there was not a single light down in the depths.

“W-we’re going to go into that dark mine?!”

“Grim, you have flames for ears; you’re a walking flashlight if anything.” 

She couldn’t help clapping back with that comment, and she didn’t miss that Ace was trying not to burst out in laughter. Deuce didn’t even bother to hide his amusement as his smile reached his eyes, his tense manner slightly lessening. 

“Oh are you scared? So lame” 

“Wh- I’m not scared-dazo! I’m the leader, follow me!” Grim, ever easy to manipulate with a little bit of teasing, takes the first steps forward. The three humans of the group look at each other, and follow after. The dusk light only reached so far, but as it turns out, Grim’s fire ears were sufficient enough; the little light was reflecting on the various crystals lining along the mine, glistening against each other and making it easy to see about 15 meters ahead of them. Yuu couldn’t help but wonder why this mine was abandoned if there were still so many stones that people would probably claw to get at, but maybe some environmentalist group was able to stop them? Who knows.

“!? Wait!”

“What now”

“There’s something…?!”

Deuce, who had managed to warn the group of some sort of presence, turned out to be correct, as soon after a group of ghosts with hooded capes appeared in front of them. Though ghosts weren’t much of a surprise for her anymore, these ones didn’t seem as friendly-their eyes looked like those that were staring at prey. 

“Gyaaaaa!!! G-g-ghosts!!” Grim screamed as he ran headfirst into Ace’s leg, who he himself seemed a bit surprised at the situation regardless. The two ghosts circled around them blocking the entrance preventing that way of escape. 

“Calm down!”

“We don’t have time for this, let’s run and lose ‘em! Follow me!” Nobody needed Deuce telling them twice; the four of them turned and started booking it further into the tunnel. Though Deuce had shouted he would lead, he, Ace and occasionally Grim would turn back and shoot a few spells towards the ghosts. Yuu could hear their laughter echoing all around them as the mine went deeper and deeper, clearly hearing the frustration in the other two boys’ voices about their spells not having as much effect. ‘Well, they did say they started today…’, she thought as her eyes shifted at the railroad track that appeared in the middle of the pathway all of the sudden. “Tracks ahead!” Yuu shouts as loud as she could, receiving a response with a blast of wind seemingly blowing all behind her. Their loud footsteps reverberate all around them, the gemstones flickering along with Grim’s flaming ears’ movements, and just as quickly as the chase had started, the ghosts stopped and disappeared. The four of them were standing there in the middle of the mining tracks, gasping for air and calming their racing hearts.

“Geez there’s ghosts here too?!” 

“Well, at least they left us for now. We don’t have time to dawdle anyways, we should press on.” 

“Can you not boss us around? If you hadn’t done something so stupid in the first place we wouldn’t have had to come here!” 

Ace complains argumentatively to Deuce, and Deuce was not about to take that lying down. As Deuce and even Grim join in on this weird blaming game, Yuu had to wonder why the ghosts suddenly disappeared, and stared further down the dark tunnel as far as her vision could make out. . It’s not like they didn’t know that the four of them were not that strong magically speaking - she had no magic, Grim was a small monster that spat out fire, and the two first years were on their first day of school. Those ghosts probably could’ve taken more time to chase them, and yet why did they leave...unless… 

‘Unless we entered something else’s territory,’ her face pales at the realization, and she was able to pick up something faint in her ear. Something heavy dragging, getting closer, coming out of the tunnel further down... She whips her head to the three boys whom were still deep inside their quarrel that had long since dissolved into a shouting match, and hissed, 

“Sh! Something’s coming this way.” As the three finally stopped they must've heard what she did as their faces paled, then

“Wi…. not…” a low, gravelly voice rang through the mine, as if its very sound could curse all those who hear it. 

“!! T- this voice...what is…?” Ace whispered harshly, as the group as a whole all faced towards the dark tunnel. 

“The … s...tone…. Is… mine…” 

“It, it sounds like it’s getting closer…”

Yuu had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from whispering that yes, it sounds like it because whatever is _saying_ that is definitely getting closer. Her head begins to pound, temples hurting from the ringing, and her foot takes an instinctive step back as she prepares herself to full-on dash out of the mine. 

“Guys, we need to get out of here,” she had managed to breathe out before they were forced to come face to face with the thing that made the noise, and Yuu was confronted with a sight that she was never going to be able to forget. A towering body, donned in a red button down long sleeve shirt with a large belt, and dark pants lumbered over, dragging an inhuman sized purple-lit lamp and a pickaxe. A cute, drooping brown hat sat atop the head, as if that were to negate the horror in front of the group's eyes. But what was most horrifying to her was that where there should be a head was nothing but a corked, clear glass, with the largest crack going down the center- oozing black ink dripped out slowly, steadily seeping into the red shirts’ collar as spots fell onto the path. The headache was splitting and she couldn’t stop herself from lifting both wrists to her temples, wanting to smash her eyes shut of this nightmare and yet couldn’t stop from staring at the horror in front of them.

“THE STONE….IS MINEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!”

“AAAAAAAAAA!!!!” 

If they were running fast before, it was nothing compared to what they were doing now as they sprinted as fast and far as they could, away from the literal monster in front of them. Amidst the panting, the can hear the drags coming faster behind them; Yuu’s head continued to pound and it was all she could do to move in a straight line, and her pace dropped slightly.

“What the heck was that?!” 

“Funagggh! Nobody said anything about THAT being in here!! Run!!”

“That’s just gnarly! But, wait didn’t it say something about a stone?!”

Ace, Deuce and Grim yell out at each other as they take the lead, and Yuu dared to turn around a little and look back. The monster was dragging its large body at an inhumane speed, reminiscent of those horror movies of fast paced monsters just oozing out of the ground. ‘We need to get out, now’, she internally screams, and yet she was forced to stop as Deuce simply stood there, his legs shoulder width and aquamarine eyes determined to look back. 

“I knew it! There’s still magic stones in here!”

“Oh no no no no no no. Even if I’m a genius there is NO way winning against that thing-dazo!”

“But without the stone we’re going to get expelled...I’m going to go get it!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me?!” 

She wanted to shout at this boy to please, please for the love of everything to get out and _think_ before doing this, but suddenly she was blasted away from them, wind knocked out of her as she landed hard on her bottom on the tracks. Her head spins, and in front of her she again sees glimmers of outlines of seven dwarves with pickaxes: one with glasses tinkering away with something in his hands, one happy with a lantern, one with a dopey smile, one sneezing and taking the pickaxe with him, one hiding behind his hat bashfully, one about to doze off using the pickaxe as a resting stand, and one...one angrily smashing the side of the cavern and finding a stone. They were all whistling the same familiar tune whispered in the cottage. She blinks, and suddenly there were less shimmers, the outlines disappearing one by one, her breath ragged as she struggles to not hurl, until only a single outline remains - the angry one. Alone in the mine, the single whistle in the quietness mingled with the clinks from the pickaxe hitting the sides of the mine, and the shimmer darkened, dripping like thick ink, and it turned around to meet her eyes. Suddenly, it comes to her.

Grumpy.

“GAH!”

She blinks once more and the breaths of memories are gone, and before her were Ace and Deuce, both of them clutching their sides in pain. Grim, for his part, was spitting out fire like mad, and yet it didn’t seem to affect the creature in front of her. 

“C-come on you guys, get up.” She managed to get onto her slightly unsteady feet, beckoning the other two to stand. Her eyes are glued onto the monster, no, Grumpy, and for a single moment she was blinded by a pulse of light emanating behind it. The same pulse that the cracked stone in her breast pocket had made, only a lot brighter, stronger...

“Behind it! Down at the end of the tunnel must be…”

“That light...it must be a magic stone!” 

Ace and Deuce must’ve realized the same thing she did, but so did the monster as it let out a guttural aggressive roar, already dragging itself forward as if to swing the pickaxe down onto them. These two may be idiots, but she was not going to let these young boys die on her watch. 

“Guys, come on! We need to go regroup, NOW!” she pulled at their arms in urgency, and with Grim’s scream to leave an aggressive fortissimo, Ace and Deuce seemed to be able to pull themselves out of their trance and for once, agree. The group run for their literal lives straight up the path they had come down, and only stopped when they were near the clear river. 

“It, it seems it won’t follow us out here,” Grim breathed out, and collectively the four of them dropped their tense shoulders now that the imminent threat to their existence was not there. Yuu’s eyes shift to the bank and she slowly walks to the edge, sitting down in silence to calm her nerves. Her index and middle fingers rub her temples, relieved that the nausea and headache had also been lifted. She could hear the boys talking behind, and after everything that happened in the past two days, her patience was beginning to run thin.

“Ouch...what the hell was that thing!”

“It didn’t seem like it was a regular ghost either…”

“Let’s just give up and go back. If we gotta fight that, we might as well be expelled.”

She could understand Ace's reaction - most people wouldn't voluntarily go back into a life-threatening situation. She lets out a small sigh, wishing that she could also abandon this responsibility if it were not affecting her and Grim's ability to have shelter.

“Wh--- shut up! I’d rather die than be expelled! The magic stone is right there; there’s no way I’m gonna go back empty-handed!”

“Ha! You’re even worse than me at magic, what are you even saying. If you’re gonna go, go by yourself, I’m out.” 

Stop. Stop it. She rubs her temples to keep the coming headache at bay as the whispers of memories came back. The memories from earlier, the seven happy dwarves, walking down into the mines. Grumpy remained, alone, in the darkness, the whistle turning melancholy, pain etched into the walls. The clinking of the pickaxe, the howls of rage, black ink. 

“Oh really now! Then just stand there with your legs shaking like a fucking coward!” 

“Ha~~~? Coward? Who do you think you’re saying that to, huh?”

Ace was egging Deuce on, and Deuce must’ve snapped because he was cursing like he hadn’t done before. His voice was much more aggressive, tremor present as if he was holding himself back from having his fist meet Ace's face.

“D-Deuce, are you alright? You seem...different-dazo”

“!! S-sorry, I got a little carried away…”

A beat of silence follows, and Yuu seizes the moment to speak up. 

“Can’t your guys’ magic do something like…” Yuu didn’t want to turn around just yet, so she continued to look into the silent river as she waved her right hand around to show something along the lines of ‘wrap it up easily’. She hears Deuce sigh a little behind her, and the grass rustled slightly as Deuce’s face came up into the river’s reflection- she noted he looked a little defeated. 

“Like the Principal was saying earlier, magic isn’t able to fix everything. If you don’t use your imagination properly, the magic doesn’t take shape. The bigger the spell or the more complicated, you require that much more training.” He explains carefully, easy enough that probably a five year old child would understand; Yuu was grateful. 

“That’s why there’s magic schools like our academy,” Ace adds, coming up behind her to stand next to Deuce, his orange hair and relatively cheery face reflecting in the river, “in order to use spells like that (he snaps his fingers again), you need practice, and lots of it. Frankly, the more panicked you are, the more likely you’re going to mess up.”

“Huh. I thought you guys were just casting spells on whatever whim,” Yuu states quietly, her head lifting from the edge of the river to face straight forward. It now made sense why Grim kept spitting out only that blue flame, why Ace only seemed to use wind magic, and how Deuce’s choice of summoning charm is always a black cauldron. 

“Well, if it’s a form of magic you excel at, then yeah, you can kind of use it on instinct.” Ace adds on the explanation, his expression a little unreadable in the water. 

“Anyways, I’m going to go back, beat that thing, and get the magic stone somehow.”

Yuu pinches the bridge of her nose as she sighs, already knowing how this conversation was going to go in that moment. 

“Merlin are we back on this topic again? Dude, you must be extremely stupid. You saw what just happened; we didn’t stand a chance. And yet you’re “somehow” going to defeat it? Give me a break. It’s gonna end up the same no matter how many times you try.” 

“What?! You--” 

'That's it,' her patience runs out as she snaps her head back up completely fed up with these two talking circles around each other. She stands up abruptly, opens her mouth and releases in one breath,

“Then both of you can hold hands and get expelled together.” She whips her whole body around to fully face the other three, and she is met with looks of shock on all three of their faces. She donned a smile so that she doesn’t seem as angry as she truly was, after all, even though all they see is a boy their age, she is the adult here...she should act like an adult, right? 

“Y, Yuu?” Grim timidly brought out his front paw slightly, before retracting it, eyes wandering between the two boys not knowing what to do. But Yuu was beyond that at this point; she could tell her tone was much colder, and her smile probably wasn’t reaching her eyes. 

“Oh, it’s his fault, oh it’s his fault...you both realize that you’re just standing in your own way, right? You just started school, you only know the basics...of course you guys aren’t going to be able to beat anything let alone that monster in there by yourselves. Work together, play up your strengths and make up your weak links, and before you butt in about it being ‘so lame’ to work together,” she sends a single glare towards Ace who had opened his mouth, only to instantly closes it with wide eyes, “it’s infinitely more lame to be kicked out of school after attending less than one day. Your legacy at the school is literally going to be the students that were kicked out in less than 8 hours, simply because they couldn’t complete a single task from upholding their stupidly high level of pride… so uncool. Don’t you agree?” 

Yuu poured out everything without giving either of them a chance to speak, careful to keep her tone as steady as she could. Deuce was right, the stone was right there. But these three were so damned _prideful_ that they didn’t want to work with each other? They’d rather fight and bicker and blame, and not take care of something that they can very well do if they just worked together? A moment passes, and then another. Ace and Deuce look at each other, and it seemed like an understanding was passed, because the next second Ace sighed, saying 

“....ha...Fine. Fine! We’ll do it! So...you have a plan, right?” 

Deuce nodded in concurrence, and Grim had an evil-looking smile creep on his face. She imagines the next smile that stretches across her face, one that this time reaching her eyes, probably matched his.

* * *

“Yuu, is that plan really going to work…? I’m s… a bit worried- dazo.” Grim whispers in her ear as the group makes their way back to the entrance of the mine. Grim had opted to be carried in her arms while the two boys led the way in strange silence. Yuu goes over the plan she had suggested earlier in her head one more time: she and Grim will distract the monster, then Ace and Grim will create what she was going to call a fire tornado that she saw in a superhero anime once, and Deuce was going to drop the heaviest thing he could think of to stop its tracks, then grab the stone and get out of there. It was sound, it took advantage of the skills that they do have, and she thinks she knows what will make it pay attention to her to give them enough time to prepare. 

“We got this, Grim. Just do what you do best,” she encourages down to her companion, and he smiles wide with stars in his eyes with what she daresay is a bit of excitement. She looked up, and both Deuce and Ace were looking back at them, both of them with the same looks of determination on their faces as well.

“Let’s go!”

The group walked halfway down the mine before they saw the back of the gargantuan monster in front of them. Yuu nods to Ace and Deuce, who retreat back towards the front of the mine to get into position, and Grim hops down from her arms, and Yuu hides behind the larger crystal for the first part of the plan. She looks out, and there was Grim all alone on the path, and as their eyes meet, she gives a thumbs up. Grim takes in a deep breath, and shouts. 

“H-hey you! Monster! T-t-t-t-t-this way!!” Instantly the creature’s eyes, or wherever the gaze is, was on Grim’s tiny body, and the chase was on. 

“GEEEEEEET OOOOOOOOOOUT”

The monster chases Grim, it’s large body dragging itself at an amazing speed in an attempt to catch the four legged creature. Grim ran towards the entrance, and at the halfway point, she knew this was her part. She steps out of the shadows of the crystal and comes close enough for her voice to reach and, 

“Hey! Over here….GRUMPY!” 

Instantly, the monster stops its movement, and slowly it turns around away from Grim and she could tell - she had its full attention. Every fiber in her body wanted to run away from this horror who very now clearly had all of its attention on her.

“HOW...DO YOUUUU…. KNOWWWWWWWW!!!!” Its arm stretches and smashes into the side of the cavern, and instantly her chest clenches in fear as its fist had left a sizable dent into the wall. There was no way she was going to survive anything like that, and on top of that the headache was back in full force. It was as though she could feel the waves of what felt like years of anger, sadness, and confusion course through as the monster came towards her, but she was not going to mess this up. It was her plan, she needed to do her part. She takes cover before the same crystal earlier, and circles around the taller cavern column to end up behind the monster. “NAME...HOW...THIEF” frustrated shouting reverberates and Yuu felt a few pebbles drop onto her shoulder; she knew this was her one shot to gain distance before the monster dislodges its arm that got stuck behind the smaller crevice. Her lungs scream as she runs the fastest she ever had, looking back to make sure that she was being followed, and sure enough it only had its gaze on her. Soon, she was at their checkpoint, and her mouth opened to shout, “NOW!”

As she whizzes by and stops to turn around, Ace pops out of the side cavern’s shadow with a cocky tone,

“Gotcha! Go, mega-gust!” 

“And Grim’s Fire Special! Funaaaaa!!!” Ace’s strong gust of wind mingled with Grim’s fire, and now the stunned monster was stuck inside a blue, flaming fire tornado. Standalone, those two wouldn’t have been enough, but this… this effectively is turning him ‘extra crispy’ in the very real sense. She could hear the two boys bickering in front of her as the tornado blazed, but her eyes move to Deuce, who was mumbling to himself as he aimed his bejeweled pen at the tornado, then stopped as he shouted, 

“Come! CAULDRON!” 

“GAAAAAA!!” 

A black cauldron, larger than the one he’d dropped on Ace earlier by tenfold, smashed down like a ten ton weight, and the group could tell that the monster was struggling under both the tornado and the added weight 

“Go! Go!” Yuu rushes them as the four of them give one last confirmation that it was stuck there before they dash further into the tunnel towards where they had previously seen the pulsing light. 

“Yuu! Did you see that!? It was crushed like Ace had been earlier!”

“You don’t need to mention that! Merlin, seriously nothing good has come from today.” The two yell out as the four continue the run. The mine went deeper and deeper, and they could hear the monster screaming at them to wait, to stop their steps. They didn’t stop, not until they reached a large rainbow, pulsing stone carefully placed on a pedestal made out of the cavern walls. “Got it!” Deuce shouts as he wraps the stone underneath his left arm, and another, desperate scream rang through the cavern.

“DON’T TOUUUUUUUCH!!!” 

They had no desire to stay there any longer than necessary, but what shocked them was that by the time they reached where they trapped the monster, it had almost removed the heavy black cauldron completely. It was very apparent that all of the blood had drained from the collective groups’ faces as they made a mad dash towards the entrance.

“Shit! He’s already about to haul that cauldron off!” 

“Deuce!! Drop some more stuff on it-dazo!” Yuu was going to forever wonder how it was possible that Ace and Grim were so vocal during this time in crisis. She was just desperately trying to conserve air to use to run away from the creature. 

“Uh! Uuuuhhh!!! Heavy things um!!! Come, cauldron!!” Crash. “And, and …. Cauldron!!” Crash. “And…. Cauldron!!” Crash. Yuu can hear the enraged scream behind them, hoping to every deity in existence that those cauldrons actually landed on the creature and not just surrounding it like some sort of ritual circle. ‘A cauldron circle, that’d be new,’ she allowed her mind wander for a split second as Ace and Deuce were arguing about the latter’s summoning repertoire. As they exited the mines after what seemed like forever, Yuu dared to look back, and she just caught a glimpse of the monster removing the last of the cauldrons, and with full on rage started to charge towards them, screeching “STONE…. GIVE IT BACK!!!” 

“It’s coming right for us-dazo!”

“Seriously?! It moved all those cauldrons already!?” 

“At that rate it’s gonna catch up to us, what do we do?” 

As they were starting to run out of options, Yuu felt a small pebble fall onto her shoulder, prompting her to look up. The rocks above the mine entrance seemed looser, possibly because of the monster smashing the cave walls earlier...maybe… 

“Ace, how good are you at aiming your wind magic downward?”

“What kinda quest-- “Just answer me!” Just give me the direction and I’ll do it!” 

“Alright, Ace, when I give the signal, blow the strongest gust of wind downward from behind the rocks.”

“Ha? W--”

“In the meantime, it’s taken a beating so you guys can trap it, just make sure it stays at the entrance okay?!”

“Wait Yuu--!!” 

“Aim for its head! It’s corked at the top, that’s bound to be something!!” Yuu shouts without looking back at the rest of the group, not even knowing for sure if that was the correct advice but that was all she was able to do in this situation. She grips the nearest rock, and though it was grimy from the blanketed wet moss, begins to climb upward. 

“Merlin’s beard, fine! Don’t go pissing yourself now!” Yuu figures that Ace was shouting the last part at Deuce, since he responds in kind,

“Right back at you!” 

“I’ll show you my true power-dazo!” 

She can hear the monster coming towards the entrance, and the blasts of wind and fire from Ace and Grim. Based on the crashes Deuce is probably knocking cauldrons either in front of the monster to block the path or trying to crush it, but she can’t afford the distraction. The wet moss makes gripping the rocks difficult, and her foot slips once or twice before she finally was at the top of the entrance. There were multitudes of large rocks haphazardly laying there, but a few were on unstable ground. ‘If I can just, move some of the pebbles and dirt there…’ she sets to work as fast as she could, digging away the root of where the rocks were being supported at the very edge. She looked down, and the creature had managed to get out of the mine, right in the spot that she needed it to, and the boys were doing a good job keeping it there. One more dig and ‘Gotta push,’ her body moved behind the supporting rock, pushing with all her might. In hindsight, she had no idea how heavy or sturdy it was, but desperation won as she put all of her body weight into her actions. 

“Ace, NOW!”

With all of her might against the stone, she felt what could only be described as a punch of air on her back, pushing against both her and the stone, and that’s all that was needed. The stone slid in its muddy base, and she would only had a moment to get out of the way herself.

“HEY, GRUMPY!” She shouts down towards the monster, who instinctively looks up. Ace must’ve dragged Deuce and Grim away, because they were getting to a safe distance away from the entrance. 

“MY...NAAAAAAAME!!”

“Rest in peace!!” One final shove, and she kicks off to the side as the piles of rock fall below in a tumble, dust clouds billowing mixed in with a loud crash of breaking glass and a final, agonizing scream. Her hands were scraped and right foot bruised from probably hitting a rock, but she was much more preoccupied with the dust billow as it mixed in with what could only be described as a black mist, and suddenly she felt faint, her head exploding in blinding pain, and desperately gulped for any bit of fresh air. Emotions of what felt like a pits of despair, muddled emotions like black, thick ink threaten to choke the air out of her. Then, just as suddenly, it was completely silent as she was sitting in what seemed like a pitch black darkness. She was face to face with Grumpy’s jet-black inked silhouette, no longer the gargantuan sized monster but of the one she saw of his short stature, his expression blank for only a moment before he smiled, the ink dripping away as the silhouette turned back into a silver color before fading away. After another blink, she was sitting atop the now blocked off mine surrounded by the greenery.

“Yuu! Yuu, are you alright-dazo!?” She could hear Grim shouting from below, and has to take a moment to realize that yes, she is still in the forest, breathing and alive. “Y-yeah, I’ll be right down!” She stands up slowly, careful to walk with caution as the ground had decidedly become much more unstable underneath her, and soon enough she was able to get back down onto the ground. She was going to worry about what she saw earlier, maybe she should let Principal Crowley know...or maybe he’ll think she’s gone off the deep end. ‘I’ll worry about that later,’ she thought as her eyes fell on the other three, all panting hard as if they ran a full marathon. She looks back at the entrance, now completely covered up by the fallen rocks from earlier, and though she had expected to see shards of broken glass or ink or maybe a huge body, there was nothing save for the slightly charred brown cap in its wake. 

“We...did it?” Ace says unbelievably. His voice sounded genuinely surprised.

“We...won….We won-dazo!!” 

“Heck yeeeeaaah!!!”

She could hear the whoops and hollers behind her as she picked up the cap, and she couldn’t help but smile when she turned around just in time to see the three of them high-five each other in pure joy. She thumbs the hem of the cap while chuckling out, “Look at that, danger bringing people together.” That seemed to instantly bring their senses back to reality, as the three of them positively jump away from each other in what she could probably categorize as teenage embarrassment. 

“N-no, t-this isn’t, this isn’t like that!”

“Yeah don’t go sayin’ stuff like that” 

“Yeah we won because I am a super genius-dazo! Not because we worked together-dazo!” One by one each of them give an excuse, but this time Yuu couldn’t stop chuckling at how desperate they were to _not_ appear like they got along especially after working together to defeat Grumpy (well, monster to them, probably), which is no small feat. 

“...heh. I guess it’s lame to keep making excuses like that. This time it was a win thanks to Yuu’s plan.” Yuu couldn’t help but be surprised at Ace’s gentler tone, as well as the genuineness behind it. 

“Yeah. We were able to get the magic stone thanks to you being calm under pressure and giving us instructions,” Deuce follows up, and she instinctively shifts her gaze away from them both towards the cottage; it’s been awhile since she received genuine praise and it was proving to be a bit embarrassing. As Deuce breathes out a sigh of relief that they won’t get expelled anymore, she adds, 

“It’s because everyone worked together,” and it seems that was the limit of Ace’s ability to handle this situation because he cuts off with an “Alright alright. Merlin I’m tired. Let’s hurry and go back.” Grim’s stomach, as if on cue, rumbles out a growl and he whines “Using up a lot of magic makes me hungry-dazo...hm? What’s this?”

Grim points out something from near the fallen rocks, and the three humans walk to where he points. There on the ground lay a singular black stone, perhaps made of onyx or similar material, and seemed like it was too big to be a random pebble around here, but smaller than the crystals in the cave.

“Maybe it’s whatever’s left of that monster? Or a magic stone...but I’ve never seen a magic stone like this before…” Deuce ponders out loud, and both Ace and Yuu couldn’t help but look at the stone curiously. Grim continues to sniff, and he states as if it was a matter of fact, “This thing smells really good-dazo.”

“No way,” Ace claps back in rapid speed, expression in genuine shock at Grim’s comment. 

“Maybe it’s a candy that that monster was holding on to? Aaaa, I can’t wait!” And just like that, Grim takes the stone and shoves the entire thing into his mouth, and Yuu couldn’t stop her jaw from dropping. 'Are stones even edible, won’t his teeth break?!' She had so many questions but not enough words to express them in. 

“?! D...D...DELICIOUS!!!!” 

“What?!” The three humans couldn’t help but be shocked at Grim’s feedback that a stone, which very well could be the remains of a giant monster that nearly killed them mere minutes ago, tasted _delicious_. 

“It’s got such a rich and flavorful texture and the sweetness just spreads in your mouth...it’s as if there’s a sweet flower field blooming in my mouth!” Grim gives his critique of the stone, and Yuu couldn’t help but wonder how that even works. How does a stone taste sweet? 

“Ah ew. I guess monster’s have different taste buds than we do…?” Ace’s reaction seemed to summarize Deuce’s and Yuu’s as well.

“Maybe… well…. Humans don’t usually put things that they don’t know from the ground in their mouth.”

“I wonder if he’s going to be okay…”

Ace, Deuce and Yuu’s eyes meet in genuine confusion and exhaustion at the scene, and only Grim is looking full of energy. 

“Don’t you guys worry! Unlike you all, I’ve got a strong stomach-dazo.”

“Don’t come crying when you get a stomachache.” The friendly jabs between Grim and Ace continue as Deuce suggests they all should go take the magic stone to the principal now. As they walk towards the area where they landed, they pass by the cottage in the woods. Yuu looks at the cottage, then at the cap in her hands; she wanted to return the cap, but then again also wanted to clean that house to what it used to be. She decides to fold the hat into her pants pocket, and vows to come clean that cottage soon and return both the hat and perhaps the broken magic stone to its rightful place as she follows the boys into the Mirror of Darkness.

* * *

In a flash and a whirl that Yuu wasn’t sure how long it was going to take for her to get used to, the four of them land back in the Mirror Chamber, where they spot Principal Crowley pacing about and muttering under his breath. Catching the noises of their feet, he looks up in genuine surprise at the stone that Deuce was carrying under his arm. 

“Did you guys actually go to the Dwarfs’ Mine?!” Everyone responds in genuine surprise, eyes wide and looking at each other.

“I didn’t you guys would _actually_ go… and on top of that you brought back a magic stone? Wow, so unexpected. And here I was just working on the paperwork for your expulsions.” 

“What! How rude-dazo! Especially when we were fighting a ridiculous monster-dazo!” At Grim’s rightfully miffed words, Principal Crowley’s gaze meets theirs in genuine confusion.

“Monster?” 

“A monster appeared sir. It was just gnarly and strong and just we’ve had a rough go alright!?” Ace responds, and the genuine confusion on Principal Crowley’s face changed to one of serious concern. 

“The four of you, come to my office and tell me all about it.” There was no room in that sentence for refusal, and the four of them followed Principal Crowley’s clicking shoes out of the Mirror Chamber. Yuu could feel her empty stomach, the day’s events heavily sitting on her shoulders now that they were no longer in imminent danger. ‘Adrenaline rush, what a thing,’ she wonders absentmindedly as Grim, Ace and Deuce took turns explaining from the very beginning of when they arrive to the forest, to finding the abandoned cottage, then getting to the mines until they reached what was apparently the Principal’s office’s double doors. The story took a pause as Principal Crowley unlocked the office with one of his dangling keys, and it opened up into a very royal purple themed room, complete with a single large desk in the middle with two candelabras on either side. The paintings of The Great Seven hung on the walls in each of their distinct golden frames, and Principal Crowley conjured up three chairs; Yuu and Grim ended up sharing one as he stood on her lap. Yuu pointedly decided to ignore the paintings to avoid potentially getting another headache. 

He beckoned them to continue, and continue they did. They spared no detail about the life threatening situation they were in, about the ghosts that chased them, about the giant monster...Grumpy… chasing them, and when it got to how they defeated Grumpy, the principal leaned forward with his chin resting on his laced fingers. Finally, when they were all done it all, Principal Crowley nods, then spoke. 

“A strange monster that dwelled in the mines...and the four of you worked together and defeated it, got the magic stone, and then came back?” He summarized, and the reactions were very quick. 

“I mean, we didn’t work _together_ necessarily…”

“It just so happened that our goals were the same…”

Both Ace and Deuce didn’t necessarily deny that they worked together, but they decidedly were not going to admit that they had worked together. Instead, Yuu nods in genuine earnestness that yes, the four of them did work together because otherwise this conversation wouldn’t be happening in the first place. But then suddenly, right in front of them, the principal descends into a howling fit of tears. Yuu couldn’t contain her surprise at this and neither could Grim, as he says “What the heck! A full grown adult and he just, suddenly started crying-dazo!?” Amongst the sniffles and continuing tears, Principal Crowley opens his mouth again.

“In the odd some decades that I’ve been the principal here… I never thought that students from Night Raven College would stand together, hands held in unity, and win the day!”

“Wha!? I didn’t hold hands with this guy!”

“Hell no that’s gross! Principal how old are you anyways?!”

“Guys, I don’t think that’s the point….” Yuu sighs out as the boys deny ‘holding hands’, and Yuu could understand Principal Crowley’s tears of genuine joy. After seeing how prideful and competitive these two are, if every student was like this...she probably would be moved to tears by this story of comparative cooperation like the principal had been. 

“I’m so moved, I can’t…” he briefly takes a moment to pull out a silk handkerchief and dab under his mask, “Now, this confirms things.” Principal Crowley’s voice seemed to return to normal as he turned, looking straight into Yuu’s eyes as she had to wonder what he 'things' he just confirmed.

“Yuu-kun,” he indicates Yuu as he puts his hand out, palm facing down, “You definitely have the potential to become a beastmaster!”

“A...beastmaster… ?” She couldn’t help but look down at Grim in her lap, and he looks up at her like she just told him she was an overgrown bat in disguise. 

“The students at Night Raven College are all promising wizards that were hand selected by the Mirror of Darkness. But because they are, a lot of them tend to not only be prideful and selfish, but the thought of working together doesn’t even cross their minds. They tend to be an individualistic and self-centered bunch.” 

“He’s, he’s really dissing the students isn’t he-dazo” Grim mumbles as he crosses his arms across his chest, and Yuu just smiled down wryly. 

“You can’t use magic. (She knows, Yuu thought) But it’s precisely because you can’t use magic, that you can get those who can to work together. It must be! Our academy needed someone like you, a regular, normal human without magic! Yes!”

“He’s not saying anything nice is he!?” Ace butts in emphatically. Yuu has to wonder if Grim and Ace are on the same wavelengths since they’ve had similar reactions to the same exact things. 

“Yuu-kun,” Principal Crowley continues, ignoring both Ace and Grim’s words, “You, undoubtedly, are someone that is needed for this academy’s future. My educator’s sense is telling me! So, Trappola-kun, Spade-kun.” Principal Crowley’s yellow eyes, which now that Yuu thinks about it, they remind her of citrines, shift to the two boys as he continues, “I will rescind the order of expulsion, as promised. As for you, Yuu-kun, I will give you authorization to attend Night Raven College as a full-fledged student!” 

“What?!” All four of their voices ring out, and Yuu could hardly believe her ears. She’d have to arrange how her costs were going to go, as well as funding, if she was going to continue her duties… before she could open her mouth to ask any of these questions, however, Principal Crowley starts. 

“Yes, because I’m so kind. However, I do have one condition.” Of course there’s one condition, always the one condition. “You can’t use magic. You won’t be able to train as a wizard, no question about that. Which means, you wouldn’t be able to take all the classes to your satisfaction. So, Grim-kun.” His attention finally shifts down to the blue flame-eared Grim, who perks up at the mention of his name. “You have proven to me today that you have more than enough potential to become a wizard. So, as a pair, I will approve of your enrollment at this academy as well.”

“Funagh!” Yuu could hear the teariness in Grim’s voice, “I, I can attend this academy as well…? Not as a handyman, but as a student??” 

“Yes.” Principal Crowley’s voice was kind, and Yuu thought Grim was positively going to cry. “But! You are not to cause a ruckus like you did yesterday! Understood?”

“Funa…..funa….. Yuu, I…” Grim fully turns around and looks up, his turquoise blue eyes large as marbles and about to burst out a dam worth of tears, staring right back at her brown ones. This is what he’d been wanting, saying he’s been wanting since the second she met him. She was genuinely happy for him, and smiled down warmly as her thumb lightly brushed against the tear that was about to fall down.

“You did it!” With this, Grim descends into cheers of happiness, jumping up and down on her lap and generally drunk in his achievement. Deuce and Ace couldn’t help but stare at them, and both of them seemed to have different variations of a smile on their faces.

“Now, I will present to you, Grim, this magic stone, which shows that you are a student at Night Raven College. Unfortunately, Yuu-kun, since you can’t use magic there really is no need for you to carry one; if you need to use the teleportation you'll have to go with someone with the stone.” With a flick of a wrist, what appeared to be a collar appeared around Grim’s neck, dangling a purple gem at the center. Yuu nods, and she thought that with the tattered striped bow that Grim already had around his neck, it made a good addition. 

“It’s school rules for students to use a “magical pen” with a magic stone on top, however, you’d have trouble gripping one with those paws. So this is custom-made! Man, aren’t I just too kind?!” As Grim continues his chants of joy, Yuu was finally glad she can call those things magical pens now and not bejeweled pens or brooches or whatever she had been referring to them as by that point. 

“He’s not listening to anything I’m saying, is he…” No, Principal, he isn’t, Yuu wanted to comment, but he turns to her once again. “Yuu-kun. As you can see, Grim-kun is still not used to human society. You need to keep ahold of him with a leash, and supervise him so that he doesn’t cause a scene. Understand?” 

“Aha! Damn dude. You just got into the academy and you’re already a prefect?” Yuu felt Ace’s hand slap her back good-naturedly and she has to catch herself a little so that she doesn’t lose balance. 

“Makes sense. You guys are the only one that live in your dorms so… since you were tasked to supervise Grim, you automatically become the prefect.” 

“Pfft… this has got to be the unheard of. A prefect that can’t use magic?” Yuu was waiting for the punchline, “Hey, that’s cool. A prefect that can’t use magic!” She was surprised the punch line didn’t come, and Ace seemed to note that she was surprised and had a smug look on his face. That cheeky carrot. Yuu chuckles with a twinge of embarrassment, “thanks, I’ll try my best.”

“Ahaha! Good luck there Prefect!”

“Prefect...hhhmmm I see…” Principal Crowley seemed to take a liking to the title Ace had bequeathed onto her, “It just so happens that I’ve got a job for you and having a title makes it conve--- I mean, splendid. Yes.“ Yuu couldn’t help but think ‘Oh, what have I gotten myself into,’ at his comment; it was clear she was going to get shoved with a lot of work he didn’t want to do. But instead, he puts out an item onto the table towards her. “Here, please, take this. This is what is known as a Ghost Camera” It was what looked like those old, retro cameras that print out as soon as you take a photo. She takes the item into her hands, and notices the lens frame has an interesting design with two smaller circles as if they were ears. 

“A Ghost Camera...like a paranormal sensor or something?” She looks at it, looking for gimmicks like infrared readers or something of the like, but there weren't any. 

“Oh, my Gran used to tell me about these. It’s an ancient magical item right?”

“I wouldn’t say ancient but… hem. But true, it could’ve been invented when your great-grandmother or great-great grandmother were children. This camera,” Principal Crowley points with his gloved index finger at the item gently cradled in Yuu’s hands, “This camera has a special spell weaved into its mechanics, where not only are you able to take a photo what everything looks like, it captures a part of their soul as well.” 

“A part of their soul…?” Deuce asked the question on the tip of Yuu’s tongue and she was grateful; she was going to ask if this actually was a soul-sucking machine and daresay was glad she did not ask this. 

“Like a memory, if you will. And the fun thing about this camera is that, the closer that the photographer and the people in the photo are, the memory in the photo will pop out! “ Principal Crowley seemed quite energetic as he continued his explanation. 

“...pop out?” All she could picture was a jack in the box. Do they even have those here?

“Yes, so the friendlier or closer that the photographer is with whatever is taken, the photo can move like a video, or it can pop out of the photo as they were and take shape! Isn’t it amazing?”

“Isn’t that like...a haunted photo!?” 

“Yes, and that’s why it was called the Ghost Camera. It was invented back when there were no videos or movies, so people wanted to leave better quality memories behind but, as Spade-kun kindly mentioned, the people saw the memories that popped out and thought they were ghosts. Needless to say, they got scared of getting their photos taken. Now, Yuu-kun,” he turns to her and continues. 

“I want you to take photos of Grim-kun and other students, and create a record for your academic life here. Especially people that easily get carried away then do bad things, like him,” he doesn’t even bother to mask pointing out Grim, who was boastfully demanding a lot of photos of him were to be taken, “always take a photo and leave a memory. It’ll be your form of reports. As a Prefect, make sure that you are always on high alert, and take lots of photos. That will be your job as payment for your schooling and living accommodations. Ah, to think I gave a rare, magical item that requires absolutely no magic out of the goodness of my heart… my kindness knows no bounds!!”

“Thank you, sir.” Yuu wasn’t going to bother responding to Principal Crowley’s remark on his kindness, but she was still grateful. He essentially gave her a new job, a place as a student, gave Grim a status as a student, and she was still able to keep living in the dorm. She smiles fully for the first time in the past two days, she thinks, and once again thanks Principal Crowley. She bows a little forward, and as she lifts her head she looks around to see them all staring at her a little oddly. “Habit,” she mumbles a little. She needed to get out of the habits she grew accustomed to in Japan. 

“Now, it’s late. Why don’t you all go back to your dorms? Yuu-kun, Grim-kun, I will have your uniform, studying materials, and class schedule delivered to your dorm within the hour. I want you to go over the orientation material, and then pick your electives. Don't worry, you guys won’t be behind; your classmates basically did the same thing today just with more lectures and demonstration from teachers. Just write it down on the blank lines of your class selection and it’ll come right back to me. Now, goodnight all!” 

The four of them bid the principal goodnight, and as they closed the double doors behind them they could hear him picking up the old fashioned phone on his desk as well as papers rustling about. The doors click loudly and the second that happens, both Deuce and Ace let out a big, long, loud sigh of absolute relief. Grim was still singing at his luck of becoming a student.

“I’m going to be a student from tomorrow!! I’m gonna zoom right past you two and get the top seat in the class!” Grim points up his paw at Deuce and Ace, the latter who as per what seems to be the pattern, retorts back,

“Says the other half of the two for one. But hey, it ended up alright for you both yeah?”

“We’re going to be classmates from tomorrow. Yuu, Grim.” 

Yuu herself had been a high school student once before, but that felt like another time ago. She couldn’t help but smile brightly at the prospect of being able to go back to being a student again, simply there to absorb all the knowledge in the world, and face the both of them joyously, “Looking forward to being classmates with you two!” Ace looks a little off to the side, seemingly embarrassed at the very forward sign of joy.

“Man, this is a little embarrassing so, let’s cut it where it’s good.”

“Haha, yeah. From tomorrow, we’ll be seeing each other’s faces everyday even if we don’t want to. On top of it all,” Deuce points his gloved left hand towards Ace, “I’m stuck with him in the same Heartslabyul dorm…” 

“Gah, just the thought of having to see this uptight face everyday is a pain.” 

“That’s my line, lazy Ace.”

“Mhm, says the guy who was half crying from the threat of expulsion, crybaby Deuce. Anyways, see ya tomorrow, Yuu.” The two teenage boys walk together as they continue to send jabs, but Yuu couldn’t help but notice that Ace had pronounced Deuce’s name correctly, not to mention that he’s been saying _her_ name as well. 

“They make a good team-dazo,” Grim observed as he laughed, and Yuu chuckled in agreement. They’d make good rivals, she thought as she opened up her arms, and Grim happily jumped into them as his paws fiddled with the new magic stone around his neck as her feet moved them both towards the exit of the campus towards their dorm.

* * *

By the time they had reached the front door, her wristwatch’s hands were showing ‘8:30,’ and both hers and Grim’s stomachs were growling with a temper.

“We’re home!” Grim shouted out into the dorm as they entered the dorm, and Yuu couldn’t help but pause briefly before warning Grim to make sure to wipe his paws. Even though he grumbled a bit, he did as he was told with the promise that she will make them dinner, and hurried in while she locked the front. Home, she thought, as she let out a long sigh in the foyer. In the past two days, she had managed to 1. Get kidnapped, 2. Be put in a coffin with a talking Grim, 3. Became nearly homeless, 4. Was partially responsible for the destruction of a 10 million madol chandelier 5. Near death experience with a giant monster that turned out to be Grumpy somehow, and 6. She was no longer on Earth, with no way to get back as of this moment. Will she be able to get back, let alone what is going to happen to her body... she couldn't help but rub her arms in worry.

“Welcome back Yuu-bou. The Principal sent over a few things earlier; we brought them in for you,” an elderly voice calls to her, and she’s brought back to the present as her eyes meet Jones’. “I’ll be right there, thanks.” With her response, Jones seemed satisfied as he whipped his long scarf around his ghostly neck once more and passed through the wall. ‘Well, might as well make the best of this,’ she thinks with a final huff, shoving down her worries as she makes her way towards the kitchen where the hungry Grim was bound to be waiting for her. 

Dinner ended up being simple - sunny side up eggs with some pan-fried vegetables and sausages. It was breakfast for dinner, true, but she was not about to start making a full blown meal in the current state of tiredness. She absentmindedly bit into her sausage as she thumbed through the rather large booklet that had been delivered as her gaze went back and forth between that and the schedule sheet in front of her. The package that Principal Crowley had sent was indeed in multiple parcels - one was full of study materials such as textbooks, notebooks, a school bag, and a starter set of pens and pencils, another smaller envelope that she immediately hid as it clearly contained money with a letter, and finally the last package had been filled with multiple sets of the Night Raven College school uniform. She had to resist putting on the uniform right away; the inner vest and the armband were vertically striped with a charcoal grey and cream and she knew instantly it matched the slightly tattered ribbon around Grim’s neck. Yuu’s sense of duty to the Principal increased two fold. 

“What class are we in?” Grim saunters over across the table, and sits next to her left hand holding the schedule sheet. 

“It says 1-A. Looks like the mandatory classes are filled up, just need to pick two electives and sign down here to submit. You can probably use a paw print, Grim, just make sure to wipe your paw afterward so you don’t stamp our bed.” Yuu pulls out the little black stamp box with black ink inside and he nods in understanding. 

“So, it looks like the schedule updates every two weeks, and when it does this calendar sheet updates itself with our class slots. Hm...interesting.” Yuu had scanned through the basic flow of the education; it seemed to her that general studies were taken during their first year, then depending on how you progress on some sort of criteria, each person branches out to specializations of their choice. Every year had an assigned class for core classes, and she noticed Homeroom had an asterisk as potential assembly times as well. She wanted to learn about how they enchant this paper to update the schedule, but her brain wasn’t going to even bother moving anymore than necessary at this point. 

“I want a class where I can show off big spells like BAM! BOOM! WHAM!” Grim did his signature paw punch into the air, and Yuu skims down the schedule list. “Well, “ she taps lightly, “that’d probably be Battle Magic here, right? And maybe Charms? You’re covered there.” As Grim whoops in optimism as they both look at the rest of the list: Homeroom, Potions, History of Magic, Physical Education/Flying 1, Battle Magic, Alchemy, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures and Charms were all writing in cursive across the document. 

“Here, how about you pick one elective, and I pick the other.” 

“Eeehhh, I want to go home early-dazo! Practice on my own! Let’s do … this one!” Grim’s paw flipped a couple pages, and proudly landed on ‘Study Hall’. ‘I don’t think he understands what Study Hall actually is but, it’s probably not a bad choice,’ her thoughts reflect that not only does Grim not know anything about human society, she herself has no idea how this world runs. Having a Study Hall wouldn’t be bad, and would give her more time to research. Her pen swirls out ‘Study Hall’ on the blank line, and now it was her turn to pick. Her first choice had been ‘Animal Language Studies,’ but it requires the Care of Magical Creatures to be completed with a passing grade. Most other curriculums required having a prerequisite or a test-in, and she had neither, until… 

“Hey Grim, how about more food?” 

“Food?! Of course-nandazo!” Well, that was quick. Yuu nods and loops in cursive Master Chef onto the last remaining blank line. The class description was strictly cooking ranging from simple to semi complex recipes, with no prerequisite required. Though Principal Crowley had stated that their room and board, as well as school provided meals would be covered to an extent, they were just that- to an extent. Whatever they went over for daily allowance in their account that was the limit, and she knew that this furball can inhale all the food if he was so allowed; she was going to take any opportunity to lessen their cost output of their precious monthly stipends. Said stipend was currently in her pants pocket, and still debating on where to store for safe-keeping. With the ‘t’ in her last name crossed, the paper began to glow, and suddenly there was a schedule chart in front of them, outlining in blocks of time what the classes were going to be for the next two weeks. She really was going to have to look up this magic, it’s absolutely fascinating. As Grim yawned open mouthed and teary eyed, Yuu had to admit that the sweet prospect of sleep was no longer resistible. The both of them pointedly ignore the curtains and other washables that still need to be done as they prepare to end the day on a high note - they were officially students. Recalling the cursive letters on the booklet allow for a smile to spread across Yuu’s face as her head finally, finally lays on the pillow and gives herself to blissful sleep …

Welcome to Night Raven College.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The magic of this game is owned by Disney, Aniplex, f4samurai. Thank you for this blessed content. The only thing I own is the ever present fangirl screaming.
> 
> Also, was it just only me hearing Deuce say "I'd rather die than get expelled" in Hermione Granger's voice?


	4. Painting the Roses Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group decides to stop by Heartslabyul dorm first thing in the morning so Ace can apologize and hopefully remove his collar. 
> 
> Yuu remembers the excitement of becoming a student again.

The world was grey around her. Her vision turns to the left, then the right - there were grey hedges, with paths winding in nonsensical directions, and what appeared to be large rose bushes in black and white. She stood on the side, hazy, simply staring at nothing in particular. 

“We’re painting the roses red…. We’re painting the roses red…” A slow adagio of what should be a song in major key floats to her ear, and she turns to the source. A playing card was swinging a paintbrush in slow motion, its blood red paint in stark contrast to the rest of the landscape. ‘Why paint the roses at all…’ she thought in a daze as another card joined in the song, another fling of red splashing onto the white roses. 

“Why are you painting the white roses red?” 

A girl, as grey as the rest of the landscape, entered from the maze hedge, looking at the rose bush now dripping with red. The young voice was distorted, but still discernible. Her eyes twinkled in genuine curiosity.

“Because see, we accidentally planted white roses,” another rose bleeds, “but the Queen loves red. We’re going to get our heads cut off!” A full bush was now red - the once white roses looked like they were bleeding in pain from the broad strokes. “So, we paint the roses.” The card speaks to the girl as if he is saying that there are clouds in the sky, that this was completely the norm, but she doesn’t think so. The girl doesn’t seem to think so either. The grey world slowly fades away into darkness as a faint knocking rings from afar, leaving her with a final thought as she caught the glimpse of the girl’s long hair, 

‘She looks familiar…’

* * *

Yuu’s consciousness slowly comes to as her mind still reflects onto the odd dream that she just had. Though hazy, she couldn’t help but wonder why she had dreamt that familiar scene of...of... Yuu shakes her groggy head slightly, the familiar scene at the tip of her tongue. She couldn’t help but linger on the faint adagio singing that she heard in the minor key; the movie that she had watched back when she was a kid seemed much more upbeat. Perhaps it was simply her mind playing games or she just wasn't getting enough sleep. Yuu attributes it to the latter category. 

A knock rocks through to their room, and Grim stirs awake. 

“Yuu… someone seems to be here at...this...forsaken hour,” voice sounding groggy, Grim’s paws rub at his eyes as Yuu rolls over to the night stand and looks at her wristwatch: 12:30. She couldn’t imagine who would be coming here at this time, and she was half-tempted to just leave it be if not for the following knocks sounding much more insistent than earlier. Sighing, she manages to remember to tie her hair with the Binding Reflection before picking up the sleepy Grim and taking him with her downstairs. The floorboards creak under her bare feet, the faint sound of wind shaking some of the windows not helping with the slightly creepy atmosphere. As she reached the foyer, she stopped a fair amount of distance away to give herself and Grim some room if he needed to spit some emergency fire. 

“Who is it?” She called out, and the voice she got back was not one she was expecting. 

“It’s me, Ace. Can you let me in?” Yuu and Grim’s eyes meet in confusion at the source of their visitor, and Grim opened his mouth as Yuu carefully avoided where she usually takes off her shoes to open the door, 

“Ace? What is he doing here at this hour...th-that collar!!” Yuu had to concur with the reaction that Grim gave; in front of them was Ace in sweats and matching top, with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder and his face with irritation etched all over. The only difference from earlier was that he had a two-toned red and black collar around his neck. 

“I’m never going back to Heartslabyul. I’m going to join this dorm starting today!!” Yuu sighs a little as Grim exclaims in surprise, and she knew that he was not going to budge for anything except entering their dorm. 

“Here, come in. Just, take your shoes off there, please.” Yuu points to where her shoes and Grim’s wiping cloth were, and though Ace looked at her like she was the weird one between the three of them, it seemed it was not a priority as he shucked off his shoes and entered with just his socks on. As she flipped on the lightswitch, she gestured for their first ever guest to sit on the cleaned couch, and went to prepare two mugs of… chamomile tea samples that Principal Crowley had somehow snuck in somewhere… and absentmindedly thanked her past self for remembering the Binding Reflection. Otherwise, that would be another thing she’d have to explain and Ace didn’t seem to be in the mood for another surprise. Speaking of which, as she boils the water she registers Grim speaking to Ace.

“That collar, that’s the one that that red-headed guy put on me at the entrance ceremony-dazo. Why do you have that on?” A genuine question, and one that Yuu was keen on asking as well as she put in the tea packets into the mugs and poured the boiling water in. She brings both mugs with her and holds out the other mug for Ace, who’s eyes meet hers briefly before shifting to the mug in her hand, taking it with a nod. She sits on the other side of said sofa, and Grim climbs into her lap not a moment later probably since she herself was warm; he seemed to not be interested in the hot drink. 

Ace opens his mouth, and one sentence comes out in a huff, “I ate a tart.”

“...a tart…?” She couldn’t contain her faint surprise, “That’s it?”

That was all the prompt that Ace needed as he nearly slams the mug on the table as he exclaims, “Yeah, that’s all! I got a little hungry so I went to the dorm’s kitchen to see if there was anything in the fridge to snack on and. There it was. Three of them!”

Ace continued on his rant, but Yuu got the gist of it- both he and Deuce had missed out on the dorm’s dinner hours. Ace got hungry in the middle of the night and went to satiate his hunger and found three whole, larger than life tart’s in the fridge. And just when he took the first bite, the red-headed dorm leader named Riddle had caught him mid-act and put the collar around his neck as punishment for breaking some sort of Queen’s Law #89. Then, the dorm leader essentially told him he needs to leave immediately as part of said punishment, so he grabbed just the overnight essentials and came here. As Ace finished his explanation, Yuu took another sip of the delightful chamomile tea; Grim opened his mouth, “Sounds like a tit for tat -dazo.” Ace had taken a moment to sip at the tea, and though he had a split second of appreciation for said drink, Grim’s comment brought him right back to indignation.

“No it’s not! I had _one_ bite, and then he just goes and shuts down _all_ of my magic?! It’s like being chained up! And there were three,” he takes in a breath as he shoves out his hand with three fingers up, “three whole tarts in there! There’s no way he could eat it all! There’s gotta be a limit to how narrow-minded someone can be!” Yuu was surprised that the Ace in front of them ranting his heart out about his frustrations was the same Ace that just this morning had mocked both her and Grim for doing cleaning work. ‘Guess life-threatening situations do help with bringing people closer,’ she thinks for a beat as she sips the chamomile tea again before speaking.

“I agree that cutting off all your magic…? However that works, is a bit extreme,” Yuu begins as Ace’s face lifts up at the affirmation, “but, there were three whole tarts in there right? Maybe it was for some sort of event?” Ace’s expression goes a little blank as Grim follows up on Yuu’s comment. 

“If there were three whole tarts, maybe it was for a party-dazo. Like someone’s birthday! I’m such a genius!” 

“If it were for a party, I can see why he may have been a bit mad. Were you able to apologize before, all this?” Seeing that Ace was about to get riled up at her question, she took the answer as a variant of 'hell no'. He grumbles a little under his breath, before giving her the sad puppy eye look.

“I thought you would agree with me and say he was tyrannical,” he looked like he had just been betrayed by his best friend or something. She sighs a little as she wraps both hands around the half-depleted warm mug. 

“I’m not disagreeing, but I do think it isn’t good to take people’ food without permission. I’m sure he’ll forgive you if you apologize.”

“Yeah, the grudge over food won’t be forgiven easily-dazo…!! Wait! The Principal still hasn’t given me my tuna can-dazo!!” 

With Grim’s additional comment, Yuu had to lift her shoulders a little - as a monster, his statement on the matter felt like the most ‘point proven’ moment there could ever be. God knows what’d happen if she tried to take his food like he did to her breakfast. Ace seemed still indignant, but his shoulders were a bit deflated. 

“Fine, fine!” Ace grumbles out with a whine, as he glares without any sort of hate towards Yuu, “I’ll go apologize. But you’re coming with me; you’re suggested it, you’re stuck with it.” Yuu couldn’t help but chuckle at his argument, and nods a little “Sure Carrots, sure.” 

“Ca-, you know what, whatever.” Ace looked a little surprised at the nickname that slipped out of her mouth, but she knew he knew there was no ill intent in it. She quite frankly thought it was cute. “So, where should I sleep for tonight?” 

“Wait, you’re _actually_ staying here tonight? All the other rooms besides ours are still covered in dust-dazo.” Grim retorts, a bit flabbergasted that Ace had been serious in his request, but Yuu really wasn’t about to throw out the poor boy to sleep outside. “What?! I’m not cleaning, hell no. Yuu~,” he turns to Yuu, puppy dog eyes active once again, “let me stay in your room-, I’m slim so I won’t take up much space! See?” She doesn’t know if he expected that to work, but he was sorely mistaken. As she takes the now empty mug from in front of Ace, she smiles “I’ll go get you a blanket and pillow. That collar doesn’t look too comfortable with just the couch cushion.” 

“Stingy. Fine, fine I’ll sleep out here, all alone, on the sofa. By myself.” Despite grumbling out complaints, he began scooting his duffel towards the sofa. Grim and Yuu scuttled upstairs, and Grim perched on their bed while Yuu dug around the closet for a clean blanket. In reality, she wouldn’t have minded if he did camp out in their room, but then there’d be the risk of him seeing her without the Binding Reflection, and that was a basket she was not about to open. 

“We should’ve made him clean a room-dazo. Free labor!” Grim yawns out as Yuu managed to pull out a spare, well-kept warm blanket and a nicely kept pillow and tucked it under her arm. “Oh, if he stays tomorrow, he’s going to have to clean a room if he doesn’t want to claim the couch. Now, go to sleep and I’ll come back up soon.” She didn’t even have to wait for a response since Grim was out in a heartbeat, loud snores ringing out as she quietly shut the door behind her. By the time she arrived, Ace had taken to laying facing up at the ceiling, his face grimacing at probably the abundance of dust up there. 

“Here, these should help for tonight,” She hands out the items, and Ace sits up to take them, “if you’re gonna spend tomorrow night here, you’re gonna have to clean a room for yourself.” Instantly his face scrunches in distaste at the thought of cleaning, “Ugh. Fine, _if_ I stay here tomorrow, fine. But just you watch, this thing’s gonna come off.” 

“Alright alright. Well,” she pauses a little, satisfied that her guest at least has some sort of comfort, “If anything happens, we’ll be upstairs in the furthest room on the right. See you in the morning.” As she walks away and just places her hand on the door handle towards the hallway, Ace’s voice rings up, “Why’d you ask me?” 

She looks back with confusion written all over her face. 'Ask what', her sleep deprived brain wasn’t functioning properly. After a beat, Ace added, “The gust spell. With the rocks. Why’d you ask me? Why didn't you just, run away?” She had to pause and think for a moment.

“Why would I run away?" Ace's eyes opened in surprise, apparently not expecting a question for an answer. She couldn't stop as a yawn escaped her lips and her hand covering her mouth on instinct. 

"Anyways, you should get some rest too. We had a long day... Goodnight, Carrots.” She lets out a little smile back to him, and finally turns to head upstairs to her bedroom with Ace’s small goodnight behind her. As she arrives back into her room, she stops by the chair that she haphazardly draped her work uniform on, and gently pulls out Grumpy’s charred hat and broken magic stone from its pockets. She sighs quietly to herself, gently placing the magic stone inside the hat, and placing the wrapped stone into the top drawer of her nightstand, careful to not make much noise that would wake her furry companion. She made a mental note to check on how Deuce was doing tomorrow and if he’s handling today’s stressful ordeals alright as sleep welcomes her with open arms once more.

* * *

Her first thought was that she needed to get better curtains that didn’t let the blinding sunlight in. As she leans her neck side to side, she could hear her bones pop so loud it reverberates around the room. Fortunately, Grim seemed like he was still stuck in his dreams since all he did was roll over. Figuring this was probably as good a time as any, she lifts off her pajamas and wraps herself in her new, crisp student uniform. The pants were a bit stiff but not uncomfortable, the collared shirt sitting nicely along her natural bodyline but not showing through her undershirt, and in general she was, in one word, elated. The vest took a bit of adjusting, but once the jacket was on and armband fiddled with, she was mostly satisfied with the reflection staring back at her. Mostly, as in she was still holding the striped tie in her hand with absolutely no clue on _how_ to tie it. 

‘I guess I could ask Ace…’ she thought mildly as she untangles her hair with her hand and ties it with Binding Reflection as per usual. She noted that she needs to buy a hair brush as she shakes Grim gently awake and leaves the door open as she heads downstairs. Though she figured they’d all go and get breakfast, they can make do with having a couple bites beforehand. She cuts up the last of the apples that were in the fridge and sets out three plates on the kitchen island before heading into the living room. The mop of orange hair still sleeping on the couch was in stark contrast to the blue and white stripes, and the lack of a giant heart on his left eye made him look a little younger. Yuu notes his youth as she gently shakes his shoulders. “Wake up, Ace. It’s morning,” she keeps shaking a resistant Ace, but right when his eyes flutter open very slightly, knocks came from the front door again. Leaving a word that there’s some apples in the kitchen, she brings herself to the foyer and opens the door to a very awake Deuce. She faintly hears Ace sputtering in the lounge about the snowfall of dust.

“Good morning, Deuce.” 

“Good morning. Is Ace here?”

“Yeah, wanna come in? Take off your shoes here.” 

“Take off my...shoes?” Deuce gives Yuu a confused look, and she simply points to both hers and Ace’s off to the side. Shrugging, he complies without much fuss, and she leads him into the lounge where Ace had grabbed his plate of cut apples and was munching them half-asleep standing up, still in his sweats and eyes barely open.

“‘Mornin’ Yuu...ugh, what’s Deuce doing here?” Well, that woke him up, clearly. His ruby red eyes flew open, his own pajama’d state a stark contrast to Deuce in uniform. 

“Figured you’d come here. The scuttlebutt in the dorm is that you ate the dorm leader’s tart and got a collar around your neck...you’ve got to be dumb to even think to do that.” 

“Okay, you are the last person I need to hear telling me that,” the apple crunches as Ace bites in, and Yuu offers Deuce her plate of apple slices as she grabs one off. He smiles a little and proceeds to take a single slice, and crunches down. “...Was he still mad?” Ace seemed to have swallowed the other piece. 

“No, I don’t think so. I mean, he did seem a bit irritated…he put the same collar on three people that couldn’t get up on time though.” 

Yuu crunch down into her apple slice, and the taste of sweet apple juice spreads around her mouth. She didn’t miss Deuce’s hand reaching out again for her plate; she didn’t mind.

“What do you mean ‘I don’t think so’, that sounds like he’s pissed! Raging even! Ugh...I’m gonna get changed...” Ace had finished up the plate in record time, placing it back down on the table as he picked up his duffel. 

“Oh, Ace. You can use our bathroom, it’s the only clean one anyways. Wake up Grim too will you? He should’ve been down by now,” Yuu calls after Ace, who just lamely waved behind him as he headed upstairs. Yuu sighs a little, turning back to Deuce who sort of stood in the middle of the hall not knowing what to do. Remembering her original objective, she grabs the tie that she had set on the counter and went up to Deuce. “Hey, can you help me with this? I’ve never tied one before.” Deuce looked a little surprised for a split second before his aquamarine eyes softened, seemingly pleased at being asked for help. 

“Sure, here,” Yuu hands Deuce the tie, and the latter steps about half arms length in front of Yuu as he carefully wraps the tie around her neck. “Are you doing alright? After yesterday,” she speaks slowly as Deuce’s gloved hands wraps one end of the tie over the other. His aquamarine eyes looked at her own brown ones, and after a pause continued, “I’m alright. Just glad to not be expelled. Done!” With a final, slight tug, he positively beamed at his handiwork, and she gave her thanks to him and right on time, a now properly dressed Ace and Grim burst into the lounge arguing about God knows what at a volume not too welcome in the early morning hours. 

Hopefully today was going to be smoother than yesterday - that was the sole goal of Yuu as Grim inhaled his apple slices in a matter of seconds. “So, when do you want to go and apologize, Ace?” 

“Well,” he loosens his own tie slightly, seemingly not liking how it was constricting his neck, “No time like the present, yeah? Take care of it before breakfast!” He shoulders the duffel, and the remaining three sort of look at each other, shrug and follow after their orange-haired classmate with their own school gear in hand. 

“So… why do you take off your shoes at the dorm?” Deuce seemingly couldn’t hold in the question any longer as he turned to Yuu as their shoes crunched on the pebbles underneath them as they made their way over to the campus. She looks up from the school map that she had been looking at and ah, right, they don’t know.

“I grew up taking off your shoes at the entryway. So that you don’t track in whatever you had stepped on during the day into the house you know? No need to bring any unnecessary dirt. There’s other reasons but I won’t bore you with details.” She describes in short detail - she recalls every time her Japanese mother had been confused as to how people could walk inside their homes with their shoes on. ‘Imagine them stepping on dog poo or chewed gum and that was near your bed! Ack!’ Yuu could hear her mother’s voice in her mind and smiled slightly. 

“Makes sense. You could be stepping on someone’s tooth or something.”

“...why would that be the first thing that someone would step on?” Yuu had to agree with Ace's interjection there; why would someone's tooth be the first thing he comes up with, she had no idea. 

“Uhm.”

“Hey out of the way! The Great Grim, student of Night Raven College, is passing through! Look at this collar. It’s way cooler than the lame one you’re wearing Ace!” Deuce was saved from having to answer Ace’s, and quite frankly Yuu’s, question as Grim began boasting about his status, as well as teasing Ace as they finally approached Main Street. Perhaps he held a grudge after yesterday? 

“And you can’t use magic right now can you? Ahaha, why don’t you clean the school as a handyman huh? Ahaha! This is great!”

Yep, definitely holding a grudge from yesterday. They continue their footsteps towards the Hall of Mirrors as Ace threatens Grim, and Deuce yet again warns them both about how they had _just_ been told by the principal to not cause anymore trouble. Yuu was a little too preoccupied with seeing different types of students with, again, animal ears and, is that BLUE hair? 

“I’m curious to see what the other dorms are like-nandazo! Let’s hurry! I wanna look around while Ace’s groveling!”

“Merlin I am NOT a show! Argh!” 

Some minutes later they arrived in the Hall of Mirrors, bustling a little more than usual as students were coming in from what appeared to be more mirrors. 'What is it with mirrors', she thinks momentarily as the group takes a step towards one of the archways and is greeted with the sight of a particularly designed alcove. Two red lights that looked like pineapples were alight and leading to the mirror were two steps under a red carpet, lined on the sides with variants of mushrooms which Yuu had to wonder if they were fake, real, or magic, and the final step was an open book. The mirror itself was bordered with various cards, and white roses, the large emblem with “Heartslabyul'' written clearly at the very top. She was just about to ask if they had to make some sort of command to get in, when Ace and Deuce just stepped in without a word, the darkened mirror rippling as they disappeared. ‘Well, that answers my question,’ she thinks briefly before beckoning Grim to jump into her arms, and as she shuts her eyes, she steps in through the mirror.

‘I am never going to get used to this,’ she wonders as her feet land on solid ground again, trying to calm the motion sickness that almost came about. She slowly peels open her eyelids and, 

“Another castle?!” She couldn’t help but shout in surprise as Grim was making his ‘Funaaaa’ surprised sound in her arms. In front of her was another cobblestone path, but on either side were beautiful rose bushes, some in vases while others were trimmed to be heart-shaped. The castle itself was of a wine red brick, the archways and all the windows, as well as some of the designs on the sills, were hearts. Forget a town, she thought, Night Raven College is a damned country in itself, she swears. 

“Wow this is so regal! Not like our dorm at all-dazo!” 

“Well clearly not, the roses are splendid though...” she retorted before she could stop herself, and she could hear both Ace and Deuce chuckle ahead of them. But the sight in front of her as they took a few steps forward was oddly familiar to her. The hedges were well pruned, heart motifs all around, and she couldn’t help but step towards one of the bushes and gently brush her index finger against a petal; the red color had transferred to her finger, and she saw a streak of what appeared to be a white rose underneath it all. She holds her finger up to Ace and Deuce, who both shrugged their shoulders - seems like this wasn’t the norm, at least to them. 

“Oh man, gotta hurry and paint these roses red!” A rushed voice can be heard behind the hedges, and the four of them look at each other before entering what appeared to be a heart-shaped archway, which they unfortunately discovered moments later was a maze. Luckily, the owner of the voice was easy to spot since he also had orange hair like Ace did, and was surrounded by buckets and buckets of what appeared to be red paint with splatters spilled on different parts of the lawn. 

“Deja vu much…” she mutters under her breath, remembering her dream the night before. The details were a bit foggy now, but the faint adagio still gave her the chills. It seemed the owner of the voice took notice of their group, and walked up with, “You guys need something?” He seemed like a cheerful sort, his peridot eyes friendly, and Yuu noted that including the diamond under his right eye, the three boys in front of her seemed to form suits of cards. 

“What are you doing?” Ace points at the multitudes of paint buckets, and the other boy answers as if he was saying the sky was blue, “I’m just painting the roses red.” Yuu goes up to one of the freshly painted roses, and sniffs the rose; the paint doesn’t smell like the same ones people use to paint rooms at least. 

“Why are you doing that?!” 

“Oh, your reactions are so...fresh!” The boy, who on further glance was probably older than the three of them (she had no idea how old Grim was) laughed a little, and it seems he had also just looked carefully at them all as his eyes widened in recognition. 

“Oh wait, you two and that flaming furball are the freshmen that broke that 10 million madol chandelier and nearly got expelled!”

“That chandelier business is going to haunt us until we graduate isn’t it…”

“Then you,” the diamond boy points to Ace, “went and added to your rule breaking charges by stealing some of the dorm leader’s tart! Man, I’m so lucky to run into the newcomers that have already taken the school by storm! Let’s take a picture together!” He pulled out his phone, and Yuu had just enough of a reflex to pull Grim up to cover her face as the shutter sound rang. Even if the Binding Reflection worked on them when they saw her face to face, she had no idea what she looked like in photos. ‘Need to test that out with the Ghost Camera later…’ she thought as Grim squirmed in her hands and she let’s go - he lands on his feet. 

“Can I put this up on MagiCam? I’m going to tag you all so tell me your names!” 'Magicam? Was that some sort of blog thing...wait…' Yuu’s brain finally catches up to the fact that this boy was holding a smartphone. A real, recognizable smartphone. 

“Deuce Spade.”

“Ace.”

“I’m Grim, and that’s my minion Yuu.” She didn’t bother correcting Grim this time, she wanted to know about that smartphone. It looked as far as she could tell the same as the ones she had before, but was it all mechanical? Were there magical components, but how would programming work here, and this Magicam was this an app or a blog or... oh there were so many questions! 

“Uh, Yuu? Hello? Are you in there?” 

“Hm? Oh, sorry Grim, got distracted.” 

“Clearly-dazo.” 

She really needed to reign in her curiosity- she shook her head a little. 

“Oh, I’m Cater Diamond, a third-year here at Heartslabyul and your guys’ senpai! Call me Cater, or Cay-kun if you’d like,” he winks a little flirtatiously towards them all, and the four of them definitely shared a look of ‘uuhhhh what’ to each other. She took the bullet this time, 

“Lovely to make your acquaintance,” she sticks out her hand, and though a little surprised Cater shakes her hand back. Now that he was looking directly at her she could feel those peridot eyes staring into hers, and she had to resist squirming on the spot as he seemed to be searching for something. 

“And you’re the rumored Prefect that lives in the Ramshackle Dorm! Wow, how are you able to live there? Seems dark and just terrible for Magicam. I feel so sorry for you.” Though Cater...Cater-senpai, she corrected in her mind lest she forget the suffix when she calls him, probably didn’t mean any ill intention, she couldn’t help but raise her eyebrow. It was a roof over her head; who cares what it looked like. She didn’t dignify him with an answer,

“This guy’s kinda rude-dazo,” not when Grim would say the answer with no frills attached. 

“Shit! This wasn’t the time to get distracted! The party’s in two days, gotta hurry or my neck’s, well...“ Cater clicks his tongue as he motions his hand to signal his neck being chopped off. “Can you guys help paint the roses?”

“Why do you have to do that in the first place?” Ace asks the same question that Deuce had earlier, and this time Cater seemed keen on answering.

“I mean, it’s totally photogenic to have red roses for the party! And I gotta color the flamingo’s that we’re using in the croquette tournament and oh, there’s just so many things to do!” She couldn’t contain herself anymore as she heard this. 

“Do you use magic to dye the flamingos? Can you magically color roses too? But, if you can then why would you need all these buckets of paint? And your phone, does it use magic or is it all technology?” Bam, bam, bam the questions roll off her tongue as she closes in on Cater, and even he seemed a bit surprised at this sudden bit of inquiry. His eyes positively sparkled with newfound interest.

“Wow, you really did come from somewhere without magic huh?” Yuu seemed to come back to her senses, and she took a step back vaguely aware that her cheeks felt a bit warmer than earlier. She hears Deuce clear out his throat a bit.

“So, the tart that Ace ate was for the dorm leader’s birthday party?”

“Oh, not at all.”

“Merlin’s beard, alright then who’s birthday is it for?”

“Nobody’s! That’s the point! The party on Thursday is our dorm’s traditional Unbirthday Party! It’s a tea party thrown on, well, on the dorm leader’s whim, so long as it doesn’t land on anyone’s birthday. After all, it wouldn’t be an unbirthday if a birthday boy showed up you know?” 

“That makes no sense!?” Ace exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air, so profusely lost in all of this new information that Cater had provided for all of them. The Unbirthday Party, painting the roses red, croquettes with flamingos… it was like… ‘Like...like what?’ Yuu had it on the tip of her tongue, she _knew_ this and yet...this was like in her dream, so it had to be related to… she shook her head. This wasn’t the time, clearly, as Cater shoved two buckets towards herself and Ace complete with paintbrushes. Both take them instinctively. 

“Whatever, just paint the roses! Deuce-chan and Grim-chan can color change them with magic. You two can't, so here’s your paint.” 

“Uh, color-changing magic…”

“Never done it before-dazo” 

“No worries no worries! It’ll work out! Hurry if you don’t want your head chopped off!” While Cater went off to observe Deuce and Grim who proceeded to turn a rose blue and burn a bush respectively, Yuu and Ace shrug and start painting the nearest white rose bush. Yuu gently separates the first petal from the rest, humming the tune that played in her dream as she began to paint each petal carefully without having it drip down to the poor lawn.

“Did you want to look at my phone later or something?” 

“Hm?” Yuu lifts her face up to see Ace concentrating on the rose in front of him although there is definitely paint dripping down. 

“Earlier, about the phone. If you beat me at painting roses for the next...ten minutes, I’ll let you look. You lose, you owe me breakfast. Deal?” Ace’s grin turns quite devilish, like a child planning a prank on their sibling. Yuu contemplates for a moment before returning the grin. “Deal.”

* * *

Yuu lost the deal by three rose. 

“Ha! You lose!” 

“Oh shut it Carrots.” 

“Laaame. Well, we did way better than those two that’s for sure.” Ace sticks out his thumb towards Deuce and Grim who were still trying to get the color red to appear, but instead have managed pink, green and blue roses. Quite pretty, just not the red Cater seemed to have wanted. 

“Can’t the roses stay white? They're nice the way they are.” Ace asks their upperclassman, albeit probably just so he didn’t have to keep painting. Not that they hadn’t been- they’d managed to do three of the bushes while the other two were working on their first one. The other two seem to have given up for the time being, and the whole group stand in front of their fully red rose bush.

“Eh, it’s tradition. The roses for an Unbirthday party have to be red! Croquette is to be played with flamingos dyed in 7 colors, and the balls are little hedgehogs of the same colors. Oh,” Cater pauses as Yuu tries to wrap her mind around the concept of how this wasn’t considered animal...cruelty? Endangerment? Something? “The Flower Concert in spring always needs white roses. Quite important, that.”

“There’s way too many strange rules-dazo.”

“These are rules, well, laws actually, that were created by one of the Great Seven, the Queen of Hearts. Riddle-kun is very strict on following tradition down to the t. Even amongst the past dorm leaders he’s probably the most diligent one. Granted, sometimes he can go a bit too far but…” Cater sighs, and Yuu compartmentalizes this information in her mind for later use; all the information so far, and what she’d seen, seems to indicate that he’s not only strict, but enforces his strict standards on others. 'Got to be stressful,' she thinks a little, but it must be part of a dorm leader’s responsibilities.

“Right, I don’t have time for this. I have to talk with him but, is he still in the dorm?” Ace seems to remember his mission to get the collar off his neck. 

“Hm? He should still be here around this time but,” he pauses a little and begins again, “now, did Tart Thief Ace-chan bring an apology tart for the dorm leader?” 

“Hm? No, we came first thing so…” Ace begins, and Yuu has a bad feeling about this as was unfortunately proven to be right not long after as a glint appears in Cater’s eyes. 

“That’s too bad. Now, you’re in violation of the Queen of Hearts’ Law #53, ‘you must return what you have stolen,’ so...I can’t let you in. And, I’m going to have to ask you to leave while Riddle-kun is none the wiser that you’re here.” 

“What?!” The indignation in Ace’s voice rang out as Cater pulled out his magical pen, the red magic stone gleaming in the sunlight. 

“Since you’re a part of this dorm, you’re going to have to follow the rules. If I let you go, my head’s going on the chopper. So, sorry about this.” Yuu could see him muttering something, and then a gust of wind pushes Ace back towards the passage out of the maze. 

“Guys, do something!”

“What no why?!”

“Come on man, I can’t use magic right now!” Deuce and Grim look at each other, and for some reason their glances go towards Yuu for a split second. Yuu sighs a little and shakes her head, turning towards Cater.

“Cater-senpai, we’ll take our leave now. Wouldn’t want another burst of your magic to alert Riddle-san, er, Riddle-senpai, right? Since technically, you already let Ace into your dorm’s premises?” Cater’s movement pauses, and after a brief moment, seems to agree with her as he puts his magical pen back into his breast pocket. 

“Alright then. Come back again with an apology tart! Ta-ta!” Yuu had to quickly scoop up Grim who looked gungho on entering the fray, and quickly bow before darting out of the maze. The two boys followed after a beat, and once they were near the front gates, Ace was the first one to break the silence.

“What was that! Can’t come back without an apology tart...we clearly didn’t have one from the start! Just made us do his dirty work.” He seemed quite miffed about it all, which was understandable. 

“Well, guess you gotta bring an apology tart next time. Maybe after scho---- oh shit!!!” Deuce suddenly let out a fortissimo level shout, and Yuu could swear that all of them lost a degree of hearing for a second or two.

“The warning bell already rang! We’re gonna be late!” Instantly, they are all hit with the realization and positively ran through the mirror. The pull through the mirror didn’t overwrite the sheer, and unfortunately familiar, terror of the prospect of being late to class, and the second their feet landed on the other side they were made a mad dash. 

“Gah! There’s gonna be dirt on my record, and on my first day of school-dazo!!” 

“Wait, what class are you guys even in? 1st year right?” 

“The paper said 1-A!” 

“Oh, so you’re in our class. Terrific, we got Double Potions first, thank goodness it’s so close.” Yuu was glad that Deuce was right; from the Hall of Mirrors, they very narrowly managed to get into the Potions classroom - a separate building outside of campus near the botanical garden...and a lake... - with not a minute to spare. As they try and bring down their racing hearts, the four of them take the only empty seats available in front of a giant, black cauldron, and Yuu couldn’t help but be mesmerized at all the various colors of bottles with different liquids and bits and bobs all the way up to the ceiling. She thought a mad scientist would absolutely love to camp out here, like a laboratory. 

“Am I gonna be okay without magic…” Ace comments to the right of her offhandedly, fiddling his fingers with the edge of the collar around his neck.

“Hey, if it makes you feel better, I can’t ‘magic’ either.” Yuu got a finger flick, hard, on her forehead for that one, followed by a “Shut it, Yuu.” She also didn’t miss the snicker that came from Deuce sitting on the other side of Ace, and from Grim who was again perched on her lap. She very nearly was about to point out the pun of that sentence as she rubbed her forehead when the classroom door banged shut behind them. 

“So, you lot are the newcomers that I get to be in charge of,” a baritone voice rings through the suddenly silent classroom, and before them was a tall, pale man in what quite possibly could be classified as the biggest, furriest coat that Yuu ever laid her eyes on. On top of that, his hair, suit vest, literally everything top down matched the black and white pattern save for the deep red tie and buttons right down the middle. Even his grey eyes matched. His eyes scan 360 degrees all around the room, and when he faces back towards them, it becomes absolutely clear _why_ they were left open - right in front of the teacher. ‘Well, at least some things seem the same,’ she thinks as this man returns back to facing them. 

“Hmmm… there seems to be some interesting fur colors here. Not bad. Not bad at all. Now, make sure that you don’t forget to maintain it. My name is Divus Crewel, but you all can call me Master Crewel. I’ll be handling your Home Room, as well as Potions and Alchemy.” This man, Mr. Crewel, turns and whips his fur coat behind him with a flare as he circles around the room slowly and deliberately, and she could see him mentally assessing them all. 

“Now, let’s start with the basics. I’m going to beat into your tiny little brains 100 different types of medicinal and poisonous herbs’ names and how to differentiate them. Fungi are a whole different matter. Eventually, I’ll have you learn not to pick up whatever off the ground and shove it in your mouths. After all,” Mr. Crewel continues as he pulls out a pointer stick, complete with a matching red tip, and taps it in his hand hard, “dogs really just eat anything. Be prepared to be disciplined - no one is allowed to get failing grades here.” 

As he finishes his opening remarks, she could hear Deuce faintly asking what ‘fungi’ are, Ace grumbling about how he wasn’t too great with memorization, and Grim grumbling that the only thing he needed to know about grass was if it tasted good or not. Yuu thought this man really could have gone into a career in S&M if he was so inclined; he’s got all the boxes checked so far at least. 

“Now, let’s start with the basic 20, the ones that you lot probably already eat or have seen on an everyday basis. If you paid any attention to a garden or cooking, you’d at least have a wild guess. You,” he whips his pointer towards the boys across the way, poor guy. He was wearing a yellow vest and a yellow armband, and had what seemed to look like a warthog’s ears on his head. “Apples.” “Good, now what is it used for?” “Apple pie?” “Correct, but wrong. Next, you.” “Uh, grass?” “Wrong, bad boy you didn’t even try. Next,” Was his hearing increased with them more so than human ears, or were there no benefits? Was there a genetic string or evolutionary stra-- 

“You,” she could feel the cold ballpoint of the pointer under her chin, and instinctively she lifts her chin ever so slightly to look up at the interesting teacher. Her gears spun, she didn’t know if any of the logic of her daily life worked. The memory of the previous night comes to her, and she opens her mouth,

“Chamomile, sir.” The corners of his lip seemed to lift up a little as he motioned for her to continue. Her gaze turns to Ace, who was looking at the scene unfolding next to him like a chicken grew a second head. “It helps with sleeping, so, sleeping potions...sir.” The pointer slowly moves her chin further up, and she holds the gaze with the grey eyes that look back, seemingly sparkling with something she didn’t particularly know if she wanted to know. "Correct; chamomile is one of the many herbs to use in lighter variants of sleeping potions. In particular, it's useful for those who want a short nap. Now…" Mr. Crewel smirks a little, "let's see if the puppy knows a follow up answer - which common kitchen herb would you use for a dreamless sleeping potion?” She knows this attitude; it's one of sheer curiosity with a bad mix of public humiliation. Her mind churns for something quick, the memories of the ample tea packets her grandmother's flower garden… wait… 

"Lavender." A pause followed, and finally the pointer moved away. Mr. Crewel didn't didn't bother to hide a glimmer in his eyes, and simply began the prompt. "Correct, and now this is a good segway into the next portion of class," he flicks said pointer, and a small crystal bottle appears with what looks like pale purple liquid inside. "You all will be making the basic sleeping potion. If you all paid attention in a single middle school science class, this shouldn't be a challenge. You have… sixty minutes. Work in pairs, hurry now.“ As if on cue, the class begins to bustle as the pairs sitting next to each other naturally pair up. Grim and Yuu look at each other, and he begins to jump in excitement as she pulls out the small cauldron under the table. "Yuu, hurry up! I want to be the first one done and blaze through the class!!" Yuu gave a brief hum to essentially say 'mhm sure you do,' but then opens up to the particular portion of their textbook on Sleeping Potions. Valerian sprigs, lavender, chamomile, spring essence, standard ingredient, and… 

"Oh God, flobberworm mucus." She pulls a face at the thought of drinking secretions of bugs but, she'll live. That's how she continues to think as she opens her mouth to give instructions to Grim, and hopefully not blow up the classroom. 

Sixty minutes and a near miss of Yuu ending up bald from a too excited Grim's first fire show, and there in front of them was their first ever potion. It was slightly lighter purple than the description given in the textbook, but it was there in its liquid glory. Looking to their right, Ace and Deuce's also had ended up purple, though their cauldron contents looked a little more chunky than liquid. As Mr. Crewel circled checking everyone's results in their clear bottles, Yuu pours some of the liquid in and caps it carefully for preparation. The best she could think through about this session was that, potion making was like baking or cooking, but then the component interactions didn't make much sense unless thought of by their alluded properties. That mucus itself would've made no sense just in itself but, when thought of like how there sometimes is snail mucus in skincare creams, it makes….sense. Sort of. She doesn't know if Mr. Crewel purposefully picked their table the last one to check, but he was already at Ace's and she could hear every word. 

"You boys managed to burn your potion and not stir it enough. Potions are liquid, not a chewable. Bad boy! But, the components are correct, and the scent… oh, this will still knock out someone proper. B-." Interesting choice of words, but at least it was comprehensive. But then it was Grim and Yuu’s turn for critique, and Yuu could feel the familiar sense of nerves of presenting something to a teacher. Mr. Crewel stirs the cauldron, his eyes thinning slightly as he surveys without saying a word. 

“This seems a little strong on the chamomile, not enough lavender.” 

“Ah, yes that was part of the,” Yuu moves her pointer finger around her slightly singed bangs, and Mr. Crewel just nods in comprehension. Grim had managed to singe her bangs when they were doing the first part of steeping the chamomile, which unfortunately included burning up a fair amount of lavender. “We,” she indicates both Grim and herself, “figured if chamomile was of the lighter variety, with a proper portion the potion could still be made.”

“Hm… B-. Good creativity, though this one would not give a proper 8 hours as required. Now, you lot, for homework you’re to write a three page essay on the properties of the ingredients in this potion as well as the other utilities by Friday. Run off now!”

As he finishes with a hand motion of ‘go away,’ the class bell rings quite loudly from afar, and yet again the class bustles about as students take their leave. Ace and Deuce were already bickering by the time they had set one foot outside of the Potions classroom. 

“I _told_ you to crush the herbs more!” 

“Y-you put way too much gusto into the flames! Merlin we're making a potion not a putty!” 

Though the two of them weren’t about to blow their heads off like they did yesterday, Yuu wasn’t about to get in the middle of their squabble. Her heart was still a little giddy about their relatively good grade from their first ever made potion. Who knew, that even after long having graduated, that she’d feel elated again from a decent first time grade. 

* * *

They rolled into their History of Magic class next, and this teacher, unlike Mr. Crewel who seemed young and bold, gave off an aura of poise and calmness. Whether that be from age or years of experience, she didn’t know. The books on his desk were stacked as high as a small child’s height, and there also seemed to be a rather plump cat stretched across said desk. She recognizes this as the same room with the large purple orb on the bookcase from yesterday, and sneaks a small wave to the gentleman's portrait; he lifts his eyebrow and smiles in return. 

“My name is Mozus Trein, and I will be your History of Magic teacher. This is my familiar, Lucius,” he introduces himself in a composed voice, his emerald green brooch gleaming in the light. “I will have you all learn the history of magic, and how magic has brought prosperity across the world.” As soon as he had finished, Lucius began to meow - the meow sounded gruffer than expected of a cat with such a healthy coat of fur...and plumpness. “I grade based not only on your work, but your participation and attitude. I will not tolerate people sleeping in class. Now, open your textbook to page 15.” At once, the sound of pages flipping could be heard, and Yuu had to force herself to not gasp in surprise at the photo shown. The chapter, aptly, was titled ‘Genesis of Magic’, and on the right hand side was a very large, very familiar picture of the Dwarfs’ Mine. 

“The first magic stones were accidentally found when dwarves were digging out gemstones in the Dwarfs’ Mines; they had struck a particular vein that reacted to their own magic, and found a previously undiscovered cavern littered with magic stones.” The cavern they had pulled out the singular magic stone out of… that must’ve been where all the magic stones originally were. Yuu couldn’t help but imagine the beauty that the cavern must’ve been when first discovered, and now it was completely barren not to mention people would have trouble getting in there now. 

“Thanks to this discovery of the century, both magical energy and the power within spread through the entire world. This became known as Magic Year 1, or 1M.Y.” Lucius seems to know when his owner would pause, because every time he did Lucius would meow out his own lecture. Ace was already yawning five minutes in, and Yuu had to seriously struggle to not laugh into the high heavens at Deuce muttering bits and pieces of the lecture _including_ the meows. Grim, after mumbling how he wanted a class that had more magic, instantly fell asleep. 

Over the course of the lecture, Mr. Trein’s voice stayed completely monotone without once having variances in excitement or emotion. Though the rest of the class seemed to struggle not to nod off, Yuu was wide awake in a mixture of ever growing horror and amazement. Horror was at how the four of them had, essentially, managed to go and damage much of this sacred place that was the point of origin for the world's magic at one point. On top of that, there was no way that they could tell Mr. Train that a giant monster had taken up residence there so they literally caused a rockslide and blocked the entrance. But then, Mr. Trein continued on with how humans were the last ones to understand said magic stones- the beastmen, or a species that are humanoid but have characteristics of animals, were amongst those that were able to adapt to these magic stones first with the help of their innate abilities. The fairies, which were magical beings that encompassed many variations, grew up with magic and it was a vital part of their function, just as important as the air to breathe. 

In addition, there finally was an indication of what day it was on the chalkboard - Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019M.Y. The year was a little off from her own world, but she was glad it seemed as though they used the Gregorian calendar and seemingly the same terms for months and days. If this Twisted Wonderland had some same elements as Earth does (aside from the whole, magic actually existing part), then it would make sense in terms of technological development like smartphones. ‘So, I got pulled here on my birthday...good to know,’ she mused a little in her mind; since she had checked and didn’t have the scar she got after her 16th birthday from an unfortunate hair curler incident, she must’ve just turned 15. Handy to know. 

Before she knew it the bell for the end of class rang, and her notebook was full of notes, colored marks for definitions, side memos for additional questions, and small doodles of animal ears and magical sparks here and there. Ace must’ve been yawning for a good half of the lecture, because his eyes still had little specs of tears around the corners, and Deuce somehow managed to stay awake though his wrist looked red. 

“Yuu I don’t know how you’re able to stay awake through that, are you one of those goodie-two shoes types?” 

“Ace, we literally went to a historical site yesterday and pretty much caused a cave-in,” Yuu nearly hissed at Ace in a whisper as they departed their classroom. The sheer horror that where they had gone and essentially trashed what had been such an integral part of the magical history; she felt like she could feel the eyes of judgment on her. Ace simply shrugs, “Eh, nobody’s gonna know we’ll be fine.” 

“Yuu, I don’t think it’s good to dwell on that. We got the magic stone so…” Deuce points out as they round the corner to go towards the Sports Field. Grim yowls from below them, “I want to do something fun-dazo! The classes are so boring!!” Yuu encouraged him that perhaps their next class would be fun for him since he can run around and get all that pent up energy out. Grim only yowled more.

* * *

The whole of class 1-A, as well as class 1-D that were taking this joint course together, were now staring at a beefed up man in a bright red jumpsuit. 

“I’m Ashton Vargas!” Mr. Vargas, the man called himself, had the voice of a sergeant barking out orders. “I have been put in charge of whipping you shrimps into shape! Excellence in magic begins with having well-developed muscles! Look at this beauty,” suddenly, Mr. Vargas takes it upon himself to pose as if he were in a muscle contest, “the result of a strict regime and drinking raw eggs!” Yuu seriously wondered if this man ever got salmonella. 

“Now, wizards must keep up their strength. So! Everyone, 20 laps around the school, then 100 pushups! Go go go!! Today’s all about testing your starting points!!” The whistle blows into the air, and the whole class shuffles and begins their laps. The four of them stick together into a sort of comfortable rhythm. 

“Ugh… I like exercise but...definitely not going to get along with that teacher.” Ace sighs as they begin a steady paced jog; the red and black collar somehow managed to not stretch his red athletic shirt it seemed. 

“Heh, I’ve got this class in the bag,” Deuce smirks a little as he confidently pumps his chest. She’ll have to ask him if he was in some sort of sports team before. 

“What’s fun about running around in circles?! I’m not a hamster!” Grim, though still complaining, continued his run. Yuu could only chuckle; he was no hamster, but he very much looked like a cat from afar and they sometimes zoom around a bit aimlessly. She wasn’t about to tell him that though. She looks up and notices a taller boy with what appeared to be light green hair jogging up ahead. 

“Is...is green hair a natural hair color here?” She couldn’t help but ask as she tried to control her breathing; even though she’s much younger, it had been awhile for her to do any sort of endurance exercise like this. She was not about to push too hard and not last the entire class, that’d just be embarrassing on her part.

“Hm? Oh, yes. There’s green, blue, some people have purple.” Deuce explained as if it were saying the grass was green today. “Why? Do people not have those colors where you’re from?” He really must be good at endurance sports; his breathing is as steady as if he were walking. 

“No, ‘natural’ hair color is brown, black, red,” she points at Ace’s head a little, “blonde...and white. The only way you can get that color,” her chin nudges forward where the taller boy had seemingly picked up the pace and put quite a distance between them, “is from a box or a hair salon. Wow, I wonder what sort of genetics played into that…” 

“Oof are we going to get into sparkle nerd mode now?” Ace gives a cheeky comment, and Yuu looks at him in question. “Sparkle...nerd mode…?”

“Like what you were doing with Cater-senpai and his phone earlier.”

“And during both classes; you were the only one looking remotely happy in Trein-sensei’s lecture at least.” Yuu could feel both of their stares as if they just got a new toy to play with, their smiles benignly mocking. But all she could do was wave her arms up and down in the ‘why’ motion and exclaim,

“Guys, it’s _magical_ history and _literal potions_ . How is that _not_ exciting!?” 

“Riiiight, Sparkles. If you don’t pay attention to where you’re going you’re gonna fall and eat shit.” Ace has a positively evil grin as he teases, Deuce gives a couple laughs and Yuu huffs. Grim yowls a little ahead of them, 

“Aaahhh I wanna blast some magic-dazo!”

* * *

Yuu’s arms now understand the feeling of floppy noodles as her arms scream in pain while she waits outside of the boys’ second locker room for the other boys. Luckily for her, right next to the locker room was a regular boys’ bathroom with stalls. Though Ace and Deuce looked at her funny as she rushed out after grabbing her bag, she was not about to change in the same room as the rest of her class. For P.E./Flying 1 where two classes are combined to make one giant class, two locker rooms are utilized, and though there were bathrooms in the rooms, she was not about to risk one of them climbing up to look in or something of the sort. Didn’t matter if she was wearing an undershirt or a parka that was not a risk she was willing to take.

“Man why don’t we just change in here-dazo” Grim gripes a bit as he pats down some of his own fur. She guessed that Grim has some sort of standard for his appearance, seeing as he then takes to adjusting the ribbon and magic stone around his neck. 

“Grim, remember they don’t know I’m,” Yuu motions indicating her torso with somewhat of a curved waistline, “right? Plus it’s rude for me to invade their privacy.” Grim seemingly _had_ actually forgotten about it, because his eyes widened as if to say ‘Oh, yeah, right’. As if right on cue, Ace and Deuce both come out of the locker room in their uniforms and nod to the two of them. They were in no rush to get to whatever their next class was - this academy had the decency to include a twenty minute break. 

“Hmm...looks like we have Charms next” Deuce pulls out his class schedule and Yuu leans in a little to look; the only difference between their schedules was that she had Master Chef classes the following week where he seemed to have taken Mechanics. She wonders if mechanics was anything like auto shop from her old high school.

“Even though it’s a wizarding academy, the classes aren’t all that different from regular school, and...“ Ace sighs a little as he crosses his arms, the collar moving slightly with the motion, “It’s a lot duller than I expected…. Not having magic doesn’t seem to be a problem right now. Don’t you think so too, Grim?...Grim?” 

As Ace shifts the conversation over to Grim, he waits for an answer that doesn’t come back, and Yuu has to again pinch the bridge of her nose and sigh in frustration. She wished that Grim would not be _as_ predictable but, alas. She could dream. 

“Look outside! That streak of fur running across the courtyard…”

Just the same as the day before, the three of them gather round the window. And again, just as the day before, the furball that they all knew was Grim was running across the courtyard. Wasn’t he the one that _wanted_ to enroll in classes? Yuu was never going to understand. 

“Running away from day one….he really doesn’t learn, does he.” Yuu could only shake her head at Deuce’s comment, who also looked a little tired of this repeat of events. She felt an arm go around her shoulder as she was pulled into an arm lug by Ace, and she had to wonder what exactly was the size of the personal bubble at an all-boys academy. 

“Pfft, first day on the job and already a ding for negligence? Say, Sparkles, do you want some help in catching Grim?” She eyes her orange-haired classmate, figuring that he was going to keep using this new nickname when making fun of her or something. ‘But, they do have magic...sort of…’ she thinks and as if the pause was a little too long, Ace continues, “Come on, whatchu gonna do? Tick tock, tick tock.” 

“Fine, fine! Help me out here,” she caves in, and instantly Ace’s face lights up. “I want a chocolate croissant from the shop!” 

“I'd like an iced cafe latte from the cafeteria,” Deuce adds, and she wonders if all of the students are like this. The pros and cons weigh in her head before she nods, “Deal! Just, here. Hand me your stuff,” and motions for the luggage to be passed to her. Within moments, her arms were now full with Ace’s shoulder bag and Deuce’s backpack and the both of them heading off into the hallway to catch the four-legged creature while she enters their next class. She plopped their luggage on the seats in the far back of the lecture nearest to the door, and takes a moment to simply breathe. ‘How much does an iced cafe latte and chocolate croissant cost…?’ Her thoughts wander to the status of her cash supply for the day, neatly folded in one of the inner pockets of the backpack as she looks out the window to the blue skies. Blue skies and sunshine, at least that was the same.

“An early student, what a pleasant surprise.” Yuu jolts a little as she turns around in surprise to see the owner of the voice, and the first thing she came to face first was a large mound of brown fur. The mound of brown fur turned out to be a rather large cat with a blue ribbon, held in the arms of a man that could only be classified as a full-fledged gentleman. A middle-aged man with handsomely shaved sideburns, good posture, a well-fitted grey suit, and eyes that she swears were slightly glowing a pale yellow. The only things she could attribute as odd (aside from the glowing eyes) were his choice of a tie with a pink and purple striped pattern and the bold choice of a golden cane.

“Good morning, sir.” 

“Ah, Caraway. Professor Radigan Caraway, Charms teacher. This is my familiar, Felicity. Say hello to Yuu, Felicity.” As the cat, Felicity, mews adorably back, Yuu was surprised that Professor Caraway knew her name. The professor chuckles good-naturedly as he lets go of Felicity, who’s immediate action was to start slowly walking over to Yuu across the desk.

“I make a point to try and memorize all of my students. Of course, not all of them make quite the entrance you did.” Yuu could only smile wryly back as Felicity began sniffing her finger; Professor Caraway seemed to be, no she was certain, that he was observing her. Though Principal Crowley must have told the staff about her and Grim’s admission, she didn’t know the _exact_ nature as to what he had told them to have them added to their class rosters. She felt a tuft of soft fur rub against her hand, and instinctively scratches behind Felicity’s ears. The cat’s eyes stare at her approvingly.

“I take it you owned cats before?” She could tell Professor Caraway was making small talk, probably to gauge how she is, and nods.

“Yes, one. Her name is Mina”

“Oh, interesting name. What breed was…?”

“She. Oh, uh, not sure really. She’s... brown… wonderfully friendly, albeit known to steal a lunch or two.” At this the professor lets out a huff of laughter, and Felicity requests another pat to which Yuu obliges.

“It seems you quite care for her.” 

“Yes, she is family after all.” Professor Caraway nods slightly in what she perceives as understanding, and Felicity returns to him, slowly leaning back to stand on her hindlegs. As if on cue, he picks her up back into his arms where she settles in quite nicely. “Well, Yuu, I’ll leave you to get settled; your classmates should be in momentarily.” As the suited man leaves her to her own devices, she got the feeling that she managed to give him a positive impression. ‘I wonder if cats are simply the familiar of choice,’ she wonders briefly before she hears the familiar yowling from her furball companion from down the hallway. Multiple students begin filing in until she sees the familiar faces of Ace, Deuce, and Grim who was currently squirming around in Deuce’s arms, meandering in. 

“I don’t wanna! I don’t wanna stay for boring classes-dazo!” 

“Hey now, you keep saying that and becoming a Great Wizard is going to be a dream within a dream.” 

“Yuu! Why are you so strict today?!” Yuu rolls her eyes slightly; if this was anything like having a toddler, she was gonna take a big fat raincheck on that. She gave thanks to the two boys, who proceeded to tell her that they ‘cauldron-ed the bugger.’ Deuce looked quite proud at how he essentially caught his third target with his cauldrons. As the bell rings, the sound of a cane tapping on the floor brings the class’ attention up front to Professor Caraway. After clearing his throat, he begins straight away, 

“Good afternoon, all. My name is Radigan Caraway, and I will be teaching you the art of Charms. Here, you will learn things such as turning opera glasses into owls,” he reaches into his suit vest, pulling out what looked to be quite an antique pair of opera glasses, and with a flick of his cane it became a fluffy, golden brown owl stretching its wings. The class’ attention was fully on him now, and Grim’s eyes were positively sparkling next to her on the desk. “Or do an array of spells such as levitation.” Another flick, and all of the books on his desk not only began to lift, but spun around in circles around each other in a small tornado fashion. 

“Now, before we get to do the exciting bits, we are going to go over the basics of what makes everything _magic_ , and some ground rules. First, mistakes happen; don’t let that stop you from trying. Second, this is not Battle Magic. If you want to do some showy attacks against each other, go to Roger. Finally, transfiguring humanoids is absolutely _not_ to be done under any circumstances - it is very dangerous and you very well could kill someone. Humans, beastmen, fairies, mermaids, I do not care, there are no exceptions. You lot will be able to do that your third year under careful supervision, and not one moment before. If I see or hear any of you breaking that rule, I’ll have Felicity here eat you for breakfast.” Suddenly his glowing eyes seemed to glow as they became serious and the air was silent as if a pin needle dropped could be heard, and everyone let the message sink in. Professor Caraway was exceptionally serious about feeding the students to his cat for lunch, and Felicity licking her lips gave nobody relief.

“Right, now let’s begin shall we?” The kind, gentlemanly expression returned, and with another flick the chalkboards had words appear out of thin air. 

“The innate amount of magic one has is a combination of both genetics and environment. But the power of magic as well as your own improvement thereof, is based on the power of imagination, and how well you transfer what you got in here,” he taps an index finger to his temple, “out here. If you don’t have a solid grip of what you want or degree of control, well you’re liable to looking at a rainbow sheep rather than a black one.” The lecture continued, Yuu completely immersed into the calm voice belonging to Professor Caraway. Unlike Lucius, Felicity was the epitome of a quiet lounging desk cat content with simply existing across the books on the desk. His voice weaved in the intricacies of how imagination tied in with the magical abilities of the individual, and the more detailed you are able to imagine the properties of the object, the better control one has. Speed, velocity, weight, color, everything factored into the formation of what you wished to do; speaking only helps in the scope of throwing out a spell by automatically making you imagine the object you desire. Words were usually only absolutely required for ritualistic purposes, however, there are spells that work better when spoken out loud, and Yuu’s mind goes back to yesterday with the Binding Reflection and nods in understanding. Again, her notes were filled with cursive handwriting and tidbits, and the class even got to do a little bit of color changing by trying to change each other’s hair colors. By the end, Professor Caraway had to change her hair back to brown from some sort of botched dying job of magenta pink when it was supposed to be blonde - Grim is going to need to learn color theory and variance, she notes. 

If this is the kind of education that she gets to go through for her second time round at high school, this wasn't so bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Professor Radigan Caraway is based on Professor Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective.
> 
> Assuming there's 33 students per class (Sebek's student number) and 5 classes per grade (Class E for Jade and Riddle), that's 165 per grade, 495 total for just the first through third years...there's no way it's just the faculty that are revealed that manage the entire school. Plus Crowley said he would chat with 'other teachers' in the Halloween event...what I'm trying to say is...
> 
> Who are they because I need to know. For science.


	5. Lunchtime Education

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuu learns of the seven dorms, who this Riddle is, and that really, you should be careful where you step.

“Ah! Finally, lunch!! Aaaa, everything looks so good! Fluffy omelette! Grilled chicken!! BACON EGG TARTS!!!” 

“Gah! Tone it done a few notches will ya?! He's got way too much energy during breaks…” The cafeteria was bustling with myriads of students, most of them excitedly talking about the new term as they gathered their own platters. Their group was no different as they just managed to grab Deuce’s much hard earned iced café latte as Yuu struggled a little with the coins. Jerry’s little apparition made them look so much more different than they actually were, particularly the five and fifty coins since the only difference seemed to be the very slightest of thickness. She was, however, appalled that the price for the iced café latte was 150 madol for that size; it better taste like sweet velvet to cost that much. 

“Yuu! Yuu! I want that chicken grill there! It’s the last one-dazo! And an omelette! And jam sandwiches! I want everything-dazo!” 

“Yes, yes. Now, Grim be ca--” Yuu warned him a moment too late, and Grim managed to bump into a passing student’s arm, and said student let out a sound of surprised anger. 

“You little shit!” Oh crap, Grim just had to bump into one of the boys with a short fuse. Just great. The boy had silver hair and had black studs on his earlobes. 

“You made my egg crack open all over the pasta!”

“Hey now, cracking open that soft egg is the best part of eating carbonara! How are you gonna make it up to him, hmm?” A redhead joined the first boy, his arms crossed across his chest and legs about shoulder width. Both of them were wearing the same red armbands like Ace and Deuce were, and she had to wonder how the dorm worked with these ruffians walking around. Yuu looks towards the other two, and the three of them nod as they join the stunned Grim. ‘Why must he keep bumping into these situations... did he walk under a ladder or something?’ she couldn’t but wonder. 

“I’d say the only thing that could make up for this would be handing over that grilled chicken there,” the silver haired kid points at the dish on Yuu and Grim’s shared platter. Ah, so this was what they were after, how unoriginal. She was about to step in to diffuse the situation when from below them, 

“Meow...meow” soft meows came from near her right leg; it was Felicity, pawing at her with eyes round and large and filled with every bit of adorable one could think of. The cat looks at the two groups in tandem, then stretches to the fullest extent really making her intention know that yes, please, pick me up. Yuu wasn’t one to deny a cat their request, and just as she places the tray behind Grim and picks up the cat, Felicity stares without blinking at the two ruffians who now seem to realize who’s cat this really was.

“Shit that’s Caraway’s cat...tch, let’s go.” As if on cue, the two depart from the buffet area, leaving the four of them standing there and quite frankly, in the way of everyone else. Felicity mews in her arms, looking up at her with large, yellow green eyes; Yuu could feel her own expression softening. “Thanks, Felicity...here,” she breaks off one of the grilled chicken slices amidst Grim’s complaints and hands it to Felicity, “as a thank you.” Grilled chicken in mouth in no time and a couple ear scratches later, a soft meow comes from the back of her throat, and in no time is the cat hopping out of Yuu’s arms and heading back out of the cafeteria. 

“Damn, what’d you do to get her to like you so much?” Ace questions as they gather the rest of their food; Grim’s mood slightly mollified that he still got his grilled chicken albeit one less chicken than intended. Yuu shrugs a little, “More likely she figured I’d actually give her some chicken. Hopefully I didn’t ruin whatever diet Caraway-sensei has her on.”

“Well, yesterday we saw that cat but, it didn’t even want to go near anyone except Caraway-sensei. Anyways, I didn’t think that a renounced school like this would have that sort walking around.” Deuce added his own comment, shaking his head as Ace just begs to eat after not having last night’s dinner and only apple slices this morning. They managed to find a good space at the edge of the middle table of the cafeteria, and Yuu and Grim sat across from Ace and Deuce. 

“Haha! Now for lunch-dazo!” Grim wastes absolutely no time to dig into his spoils of war, starting with the steaming bit of omelette carefully laid out as if it were from a Michelin star restaurant. Or at least, that’s how Yuu imagined a Michelin star omelette would look like. “Mmmm!!! The egg is so soft, and the cheese is oozing out!” Yuu couldn’t help but think that if this whole Great Wizard thing doesn’t work out, Grim could go to being a food critic, aside from the whole being a monster thing. Ace and Deuce each take a bite of their own food, and Yuu follows with a bite of her chicken salad. Humming in satisfaction, she was about to take a second bite when she felt her skin tingle and hair stand up, and she quickly looked around but can’t determine where the sensation came from. 

“What are you looking around for?” Ace pauses his next bite into his creamy pasta. The sensation disappeared just as suddenly as it came on, and Yuu shook her head a bit. “Nothing, must’ve been my imagination.” It had felt like someone was staring at their direction, but she wasn't about to dive into that paranoia just yet. Grim had managed to finish inhaling his omelette and had moved onto the holy grail of grilled chicken, licking his lips in pure satisfaction.

“We saw your guys’ dorm this morning, but what are the other dorms like-dazo?”

“You know the statues of the Great Seven along Main Street? There’s seven dorms to honor them.” A familiar voice spoke behind her, and the four of them were face to face with Cater, as well as a taller, bespeckled boy with a clover mark on his left cheek next to him. After that light green hair this morning, this boy’s olive green even seemed normal, God forbid. 

“You’re that dude from this morning!” Ace exclaims, clearly unhappy about these two newcomers. “You tricked us into painting the roses!” Grim shouts with his mouth full, and Yuu couldn’t help but chide him to swallow his food before talking as bits of food sputter out. He clearly ignores her as she wipes off bits of chicken off her sleeve. 

“Hey now, that’s not nice. It’s not like I wanted to do that you know? It’s the dorm’s rules after all, gotta follow ‘em, or else, ” Cater clicks his tongue twice as he makes the motion of his head detaching from his neck. 

“You seemed quite happy back there…” 

“Now now, Deuce-chan. If we’re out of the dorms, we don’t have to follow the dorm rules. And right now, Cay-kun is quite kind to his kouhai,” Cater followed, and he sat down as Yuu moved over slightly to make some space. Clearly these two were going to sit down with them whether their merry band of first years liked it or not, might as well make the transition less chaotic. 

“D-don’t call me Deuce-chan, senpai!” 

“Now now, that’s just Cater showing his love for you all.” The bespeckled boy followed up, and judging from the way he addressed Cater, he must also be a third year. 

“And who are you?” Ever Ace, always the one asking the direct questions. He grumbled a bit as he moved over, and the older boy sat down across from Cater and next to the collared boy. 

“Oh, sorry. I’m Trey. Trey Clover, a third year in Heartslabyul like Cater there,” Trey nudges his chin a little towards Cater, who responds by taking a rather large bite of his own omelette. Trey’s attention then turns to her, and she notices his eyes were a much darker yellow than the principal’s...golden . He seemed good-natured, and Yuu notes he seems like a boy who would probably help an old grandmother cross the street. 

“You’re Yuu, right? The Prefect that’s living up in that Ra-- ahem, the unused dorm down the road?” 

“You can say Ramshackle, I won’t be offended. But yes, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” She puts out her hand diagonally across the table, and Trey reaches to grab hers for a solid one shake. Steady, good grip - kid has confidence in his abilities. 

“Haha! Cater told me about you, you seemed quite keen about color changes and his smartphone.” Yuu chuckled a little uncomfortably, remembering her morning slip of bombarding questions at Cater and taking another bite to mask her discomfort. Thankfully Trey continues, “He also told me about yesterday; sorry that these two caused you some trouble.” Yuu shakes her head in denial as Deuce looks over to the side in a twinge of guilt, and Ace sighs deeply. 

“Now now, since we’re in the same dorm let’s get along! How about exchanging numbers?” Cater, meanwhile, had pulled out his trusty smartphone, turning to her first expectedly before remembering, “Oh, right you don’t have one. Man, you’re rarer than a national treasure! Hey, I know a few shops that sell the latest phones at reasonable prices. Want to go on a smartphone date sometime?” Cater had leaned in with his elbow on the table, chin resting on his hand as he looked at her. She really questioned these boys’ personal space, and instinctively leaned back to put some distance.

“Cater, give him some space will you?” Trey thankfully came to the rescue, and Cater lifts his arms up in surrender to proceed to get Deuce and Ace’s contact information; it seemed they also exchanged this ‘Magicam’ ID as well. 

“Now, you guys were talking about dorms? How fresh! We’ll tell you everything you want to know!” Seemingly satisfied, Cater really did seem to be in a good mood after a bite into a mini BLT sandwich. Yuu began to move her own fork, and was shocked to discover that Grim had literally eaten everything _except_ her salad, as in only the leaves remained. Some luck on her part. 

“Before that, could you explain _our_ dorm? Like, what in Merlin’s beard are these, weird ‘Queens’ Law’ things?” Ace taps hard on the collar that still gleams around his neck, and Trey begins.

“You all know about the legendary Queen of Hearts right? She ruled over her kingdom by creating strict rules and abiding by them. How else was she going to control a kingdom full of oddballs and misfits. “

“In honor of said Queen, the students in the Heartslabyul dorm wear red and black armbands paying homage to her dress, and traditionally follow the laws that she had created.” Cater provided additional details to Trey’s start, and things were beginning to fall into place. Yuu scrunches the bridge of her nose a bit, trying to recall something of the Queen of Hearts, but stops when the headaches start again. She wondered if she was simply going mad herself. 

“That just sounds like an uptight dorm-dazo~” Grim sighs out, seemingly recovering from the semi-food coma that he had been in for the past few minutes. Cater chuckles a little as he finishes up his plate of food. 

“Well, it depends on the dorm leader how strictly they want to enforce those laws. The last dorm leader was quite lax.” 

“Riddle’s much more traditional than the recent dorm leaders, so he wants to follow these laws according to their original intent as much as possible.” After another tag team explanation, Ace’s shoulders droop even lower than Yuu thought possible. 

“That’s just way too much…” He muses, Yuu genuinely felt a twinge of sympathy for the boy; Ace didn’t seem like the type flourish under so many constrictions. Since it seemed like there were rules up into the 200’s, he was going to have a tough go for the next year. 

“What about the other dorms? Are they all like yours?” Grim asked as if to switch the conversation. Yuu nods in agreement, taking another bite of her salad and chewing slowly; she is going to need to have this last until dinner. 

“Like Cater said, there’s seven dorms in this school that pay homage to the Great Seven. First, our Heartslabyul dorm - it honors the strict spirit upheld by the Queen of Hearts,” Trey begins counting off as he unwinds each finger, “Next is Savanaclaw, modeled after the indomitable spirit of the Lion. Octavinelle, for the merciful spirit of the Sea Witch. Scarabia, after the Desert Sage’s contemplative spirit. Pomfiore, for the unwavering spirit of the beautiful Queen. Ignihyde, for the diligent spirit of the Ruler of the Underworld. And finally, Diasomnia for the noble spirit of the Queen of Thorns.” As soon as Trey finished his count, Grim exclaimed, 

“All of their names are way too long! There’s no way I’m going to remember them all!” Yuu chuckled briefly, though she did agree that these names were a bit difficult to pronounce. Diasomnia just sounds like insomnia...perhaps they had a rather dark ambience? She sort of wanted to find out. Cater laughs at Grim’s shock, “No worries! You’ll end up memorizing them whether you want to or not.”

“Well, it’s said that the Mirror of Darkness decides which dorm you’ll end up in based on the nature of your spirit, but,” Trey begins, and she could remember how the Mirror of Darkness had to pause right before announcing she had absolutely nothing, “it seems like certain types of people get grouped into the same dorms.” 

“Oh yeah, can totally see that.” 

“...types of people?” Deuce adds his comment as he sips on his café latte. Yuu’s eyes circle around their Heartslabyul group and sort of understood; all four of them were quite friendly and open to joining in on conversations. Perhaps part of the 'nature' for this dorm was to have extroverted tendencies. 

“Like, that guy over there,” Trey-senpai again nudges his chin, and the entire group turns to see who he was indicating. It was a rather large boy with hair as white as snow, ears and a tail that looked like some sort of canine and, 

“He hasn’t skipped gym day has he,” she couldn’t stop herself from blurting that out, and Trey laughs as if that rather proved the point. 

“That build is Savanaclaw, dead on.”

“Yeah really. Savanaclaw’s got a lot of guys that are good at sports or martial arts. Kind of like, the macho bros. They wear a yellow and black armband.” 

“Hm. What about that one, wearing a grey and pale purple armband.” Grim’s paw points out a slender boy with glasses with wavy silver hair. Yuu wondered what sort of product he uses to get his hair to be that texture. 

“He’s in Octavinelle,” Trey responds instead, “And the group in front of him wearing rouge and yellow armbands are from Scarabia.” Yuu instantly recognized one of them as Kalim; she'll have to say hi to him at some point and ask if he was alright after having his ass burned...literally. 

“Those two dorms,” Cater continues, and Yuu has to wonder if these two had rehearsed this speech, “are both known to have the book-smarts. Those two wrestle for the top spots during written exams. Oh, but the Scarabia dorm leader isn’t that great at studying apparently and ”

“Nope, nope this is gonna segway into another conversation,” interrupts Ace, who has seemed to adapt quite well to his upperclassman’s vibes. Trey seemingly agrees as he continues on,

“Back to the scheduled lesson here. That group over there with purple and red armbands and rather ‘sparkly’ features, are in Pomfiore.” The group Trey had pointed out had a taller blonde boy, who was donning what looked to be a rather exaggerated hunter’s cap, and 

“Wow! There’s a really cute girl-dazo!” 

“What?! But it’s an all-boys school!” 

“You idiots, there’s no way a girl would be in an all boys academy going through the front door.” Ace scolded the both of them for their apparent connection that no, there were no girls in this academy. Yuu nodded and hoped that the cold sweat going down her back was not visible to anybody at this table. Grim, thankfully, managed to keep his mouth shut about _her_ being a girl, and she was hoping to keep it that way unless absolutely necessary.

“Speaking of girls, Rosalia’s painting in the west wing is quite pretty. I can introduce you if you like?” Cater proposes, but Ace declines saying that she’s, well, a painting. 

“Who cares if they’re a painting or not as long as they’re cute. Anyways. Pomfiore’s filled with good-looking people and an intense dedication towards beauty. And, ” Cater yet again pulls out his phone, “the dorm leader is a Magicammer with five million followers.” Magicam was beginning to sound like the Instagram of this world, or maybe a mix of a couple apps. The picture showing on Cater's screen was of the other blonde sitting between the other two, his facial features very sculptured as if like those Roman marble statues. She could appreciate objectively that his face was beautiful. 

“Hey now, don’t go wrapping them up with just their good looks.” Trey interjects, chiding the other third year slightly, “Pomfiore’s also got a lot of students that are very proficient in potions and specifically, curses.” The four first years, including Yuu herself, had an identical expression of thinking that wow, that suddenly made the beauty a bit ominous. 

“Ahaha, true true,” meanwhile Cater seemed unfazed and continued on, “next is Ignihyde. They have a blue and black armband but, doesn’t look like any of them are here right now. They all have their guard up and, frankly I don’t have friends thereeither. Kind of the opposite of us, you know? We’ve got mostly extroverts.”

”So they're gloomy?” 

“Hey now. But they do have introverted tendencies. They also tend to be good at magical energy engineering and a lot of the technological fields.” Her ears perk up a bit at the mention of magical energy engineering - what differences were there? Did they have flying cars like all those movies could ever dream of? She could feel Ace’s teasing stare going towards her, which she pointedly ignored. 

“And then there’s the… Diauuhhhguuhh dorm, right?” 

“Don’t go messing the name looking all confident like that. You mean Diasomnia.” Ace couldn’t resist commenting on how Deuce had muddled the name of the final dorm quite spectacularly. 

“Diasomnia...oh, over there. At the best spot towards the back of the cafeteria. They’ve got lime green and black armbands. They’re kind of like...celebrities? Sort of? It’s a bit hard for us regular people to go talk to them. In particular, their dorm leader is just...” Their gazes go over to the far back, and Ace points out what they all catch on.

“There’s a kid in there?” 

“Well, our academy does allow for people to skip grades. But, he’s no kid. He’s a third year like us…” 

“I’m Lillia. Lillia Vanrouge.” Just as Trey was about to describe who the guy was, said guy popped above them all, upside down, hanging from literally nothing. Grim shouted how he just teleported, and Yuu wasn’t about to disagree as all of them jump in surprise. Though the boy did manage to land himself right side up on the ground, she couldn’t help but wonder that he seemed like a bat, sort of. Said boy, who had streaks of pink through his black hair and again another set of red eyes, continued as if nothing out of the ordinary just happened.

“You are seeking to know my age, no? Fufu, although I appear to be quite the beautiful, youthful boy like Glasses here said, I don’t think I’m at an age to be called ‘boy’.” This boy, Lillia, continues while ignoring Trey mouthing ‘youthful?’ silently.

“Why don’t you come and chat with us instead of staring at us from afar? We all attend the same academy! We at Diasomnia will always welcome you with open arms.” The four first years lean back to look back at the Diasomnia table, and the other group seemed to be looking right back at them with what can only be categorized as suspicious stares. She recognized the green haired one as the guy running ahead of them in their class earlier.

“Well, they don’t seem to want us to chat with them, do they,” Deuce makes an astute observation and the table had to nod in agreement. Lillia laughs, and bids them farewell as he quite literally 'pops' back to his table. 

“Our tables have got to be over 20 meters away and he was able to hear our conversation? Scary!!” Ace whispered to them all, and Trey also chuckled wryly.

“W-well, so, Diasomnia has got people with interesting quirks. A lot of them are equally skilled across the board in magic. Their dorm leader, Malleus Draconia, is said to be amongst the top five wizards in the world.” Trey continues, and Yuu’s and Grim’s eyes both widen like saucers at the thought of one of the top five wizards in the world being enrolled at this school. He was probably going to end up one of those really young rulers of the world, changing things. She wanted to meet this guy someday.

“Malleus is like, out there in all aspects. But then again, our dorm leader’s got some out there qualities as well.” 

“Seriously! Putting on this collar for taking one slice of tart. His narrow-mindedness is completely out there.” Ace had latched onto Cater’s last comment and yet again spewing up complaints. Yuu notices that behind Ace, a small statured boy with red hair was closing in on them, and as realization hits her who this boy was, the other boy opens his mouth and says “Oh? I’m narrow-minded, am I?” 

Oh, shit. Yuu and Deuce both realize who it is and desperately motion for Ace to stop his running mouth, but he unfortunately doesn’t catch on as he continues, “Yeah. Forget traditional, this is just tyrannical.” Deuce shouts out a warning too late, and Yuu had to facepalm at Ace digging his own grave. Ace, finally realizing his mistake, jumps back in surprise and the horror of how yes, that was definitely his dorm leader that responded back and heard every bit of his complaining. 

“Hey Riddle-kun! You’re looking out of this world cute today~” Though Cater's tone of voice was still light-hearted, Yuu could swear a single bead of cold sweat was going down his neck. 

“Cater. If you talk too much, I’ll take off your whole head including that mouth of yours.” 

“Haha, please have mercy~” Yuu took this moment to observe the newcomer to their table, clearly the boy named Riddle, and the dorm leader that had put Ace’s collar on. He was short in stature, a little shorter than her it seemed, and had piercing grey eyes and had done a rather nice job on his red eyeshadow. His expression remained cool, calm, serious. 

“That’s the guy that put that weird collar on me at the entrance ceremony!” Yuu sighed as she had to pinch the bridge of her nose to calm herself down; Grim really just had a way of bringing attention to them. 

“You all are…” Riddle looks around in turn at Ace, Deuce, Grim, and herself. She feels the eyes bearing into her, reminiscent vaguely of her mother judging her homework. “You’re the ones that caused that expulsion ruckus yesterday. Can you not refer to someone’s Unique Magic as a ‘weird collar’? It’s quite rude.” Riddle lets out a small sigh as his arms cross over his chest. “The Principal’s too soft. If he forgives rule-breakers, then everything is going to collapse. He should just chop off everyone’s heads.” 

‘Well, okay that escalated quickly,’ she thought inwardly as she heard Ace mutter how Riddle's very violent in contrast to his softer features. Riddle’s brows furrow, once again glaring at their group, “The principal may have forgiven you all, but try breaking another one of the school rules; I won’t be so lenient.” As the other three pale slightly, Yuu sort of shrugs ever so slightly; it didn’t seem like the school had appointed separate authorities to dorm leaders to dispense punishments outside of their dorms. She wasn’t about to be scared, at least not yet. Ace was the first one to recover amongst the other first years, his expression returning to his usual easygoing self.

“So...dorm leader… would you be able to take this collar off for me?” Oh, that was not the correct question to ask, even Yuu knew that. Riddle sighs again,

“Well, I was going to if you’d taken the time to reflect on your actions. However, based on what you said it looks like you haven’t had enough time to do so. You will carry on with that collar for awhile. Don’t worry, the first part of the first year curriculum is mostly lectures about basics. Without magic, you wouldn’t be able to cause a ruckus like yesterday either. Works out well, don’t you think? Now, if you’ve all finished eating, don’t doddle and go get ready for your next class.” Riddle pauses briefly to glance at the large clock in the cafeteria, “Queen’s Law #271, ‘One must leave the table within fifteen minutes of finishing lunch.’ If you break a law...you understand, don’t you? You respond with ‘yes, dorm leader!’ Understood?” Suddenly, Riddle’s eyebrows furrow and expression hardened into one that was threatening. Yuu continues to observe Riddle’s demeanor as the two first years respond with a ‘Yes, dorm leader’; his shoulders were tightened as if he were carrying more weight on his shoulders than a typical teen his age would, slight under eye bags showing he stays up late, and the glare that demanded full obedience. He reminded her of her own mother when she was scolding her about one thing or another back in the day after a day at work.

“I’ll keep watch over them, don’t worry,” Trey commented as Riddle seemed satisfied as Ace’s and Deuce’s response, and Riddle’s attention turned to the third year.

“You’re the assistant dorm leader; make sure to stay vigilant and not go soft. Now, I’m going to go buy sugar cubes in accordance to Queen’s Law #339, ‘After meal teas must be lemon tea with exactly two sugar cubes.’ I will take my leave.” As he departs from their table, they could all hear him faintly mumble about how it was unbelievable to have no sugar cubes left in the sugar pot. As soon as he was out of earshot, she could visibly see that everyone at the table’s shoulders dropped in sweet relief, the air returning to the relaxed lunch environment they had been in not five minutes ago. 

“Boy that was close”

“He’s got a terrible attitude-dazo!” 

“Hey, that’s rude!” In order, Cater had expressed relief, Grim as always inserted his opinion which Deuce objected over its rudeness. But Yuu’s attention was towards the other students, all with the same red and black armbands as their little group, all of them whispering to each other while huddled closely.

“Is he gone?”

“I broke the Queen’s Law #186, ‘One must not eat hamburg on Tuesdays,’ and...Merlin if he saw me I…”

“Haaa...why can’t he just let us eat what we want at least…” Complaints from the other students fill the air, and Yuu could tell that whatever power that Riddle commands in his dorm, it was through sheer fear. It seemed like the two third years overheard the whispers around them as well. 

“Riddle...he became the dorm leader in his first week of school here. His word choices may be a bit...strict, but he’s doing this because he wants to better the dorm. He’s not a bad person at heart.” Trey jumped in to give Riddle some good comments, but Yuu couldn’t help but notice his smile wasn’t quite reaching his eyes. She didn’t know what it was, but she felt there was something going on here more than meets the eye. 

“A good person wouldn’t go putting on collars on others!” Grim pouts as he puts his paws on his figurative waist. Yuu sighs, 

“Grim, you have to admit he had fairly good reason at the entrance ceremony. You literally set a boy’s uniform on fire, not to mention gate crash to start with.” Grim continues pouting but doesn’t seem to have any comebacks to what she said. Instead, what came out was a complaint, “That collar, you all of the sudden can’t use magic! It’s tight, it’s uncomfortable and just, it was horrible-dazo!” Ace nods in full agreement, which considering he also had a collar around his neck, made complete sense. 

“By the way, what’s this Unique Magic that dorm leader spoke of?” Ace asks the two upperclassmen, and the rest of the table looks at them. “Unique… is it some sort of magic that only the dorm leader can use?” Deuce follows up, and the third years catch on to the question. 

“Well, let’s put aside the notion that literally only one person in the whole world could use that magic… but generally, if there’s a spell that that person can use and is unique to them, that is called Unique Magic. You’ll probably learn about it in Caraway’s class soon.” Trey’s expression softened as he explained this concept of unique magic. Yuu had to wonder what this ‘uniqueness’ actually meant as Cater continued, 

“Riddle-kun’s Unique Magic, specifically, is ‘magic that suppresses the others’ magic temporarily.’ Otherwise known as ‘Off with your Head’. For wizards like us, taking away our magic might as well be like taking our heads, you know.” Grim seemed to squeal in terror at the sound of the name. Cater laughs at Grim’s reaction, so overexaggerated that it made Deuce and Ace’s paled expressions look calm in comparison. “So, you may want to follow Riddle-kun’s rules in the dorms if you want to avoid that collar.” 

“On the flip side, that means as long as you follow the rules, Riddle isn’t that scary.” Trey sounded much more calm, but Yuu had to wonder how many of these rules were there as well as how stable this power dynamic was as a whole. It felt like Riddle was using a deck of cards to build his own tower, no a fortress, but that may just be their suits on their faces reminding her of cards.

“Wait, if I don’t buy a tart then you’re just gonna kick me out again huh.” 

“Yeeah, Queen’s Law #53. Also, Riddle-kun always looks forward to eating the first slice...it’d probably have to be a whole tart for it to work.” 

“You’re not gonna let it slide even though you said you want to get along!?” 

“Well, as they say. This is this, that is that.” The back and forth between Ace and Cater continued; Ace had seemingly forgotten their earlier promise about spending a second night at Ramshackle dorm. Yuu inwardly snickers. 

“Isn’t a whole tart kind of...no, really expensive?”

“I don’t have that kind of money on me.”

“Then why don’t you just make them? All the tarts in the fridge were made by Trey-kun anyways.” At Cater’s words, all heads turn to Trey, his smile a little wry from the attention being brought to him. That was not something that she would’ve expected from a high school boy; perhaps the boys she had been around in high school just were inadequate. They couldn’t figure out how to set an oven timer on let alone bake a tart.

“You made that tart Trey-senpai?! It looked like it came from the bakery!!”

“Haha, thanks. Well, I do have the supplies and tools but… it won't come free.” 

“What?! You’re gonna take my money?!” 

“Haha, no. I’m not going to extort money from an underclassman,” Trey genuinely laughs in amusement, “No, we need about two to three hundred chestnuts to make the next tart that Riddle really wanted to eat. Can you gather them?” 

“TWO TO THREE HUNDRED?!” Deuce, Grim and Yuu all shout in surprise at varying volumes. Just how big was this Unbirthday thing? Unbothered, Trey continues, “Gather them today, then help me out by heating, peeling and straining them tomorrow after the club tours. That’s my price.” 

“Can I go home now.”

“Me too.” 

“Traitors!” Ace shouts at Grim and Deuce who had, in seconds, essentially tried to back out. Ace’s large ruby red eyes turn to hers, and she sighs a little, “I’m in.” She was, after all, the one who suggested he go apologize in the first place. Instantly his face lights up, “You’re a true friend Sparkles, I knew I could count on you.” Her eyebrow lifts in response as she gives a small smile. 

“Now now! It’ll definitely be tasty if everyone helps out right? Right! You guys could make your debut as food bloggers even!” 

“Don’t tell the dorm leader, but the best bite of mont blanc tart is when it’s freshly made. The only ones that get to enjoy that, are the bakers themselves.” It seems the upperclassmen's persuasiveness had an effect, because now Grim at least was pumped up and trying to hype everyone else into getting as many chestnuts as possible. 

“Where would we go get these chestnuts, Trey-senpai?” She asks for the group as a whole, and he responds with a simple “The chestnut trees are in the forest behind the botanical gardens. There should be plenty this season.” 

“Alright then! Let’s meet up in front of the botanical gardens then after school!” Ace declares, but then after briefly looking over his schedule, retracts the statement. “Just kidding, we all got Study Hall next, don’t we?” The three other first years nod just as the warning bell rings that their lunch has come to an end. As the four of them turned to leave to go towards the library as assigned, Yuu felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked back and it was Trey, who was now looking at her with a curious look. 

“Yes?” 

“Have you guys considered what clubs you all are going to go into?” Yuu was not expecting that question out of the blue, and had to shake her head side to side in honesty. As if he could tell that she had not given a single thought to clubs let alone _knew_ about clubs, he responds with,

“Well, they’re having booths set up tomorrow. Come check out the Science Club, I think you’d fit right in.” With a final pat on the shoulder, Trey takes his leave as Yuu is left having to catch up with the others. She wondered vaguely if he had caught onto her excitement when they spoke about Unique Magic or towards magical energy engineering, or perhaps it was just based on whatever Cater had told him about this morning. She’d have to chat with the others and ask, what kind of clubs do they even have at a magical academy? 

* * *

They'd all managed to finish up their homework assigned during Study Hall, and Yuu ended up going knee deep into their alchemy class' text for Thursday by the time the bell rang. Alchemy seemed rather focused on the creation of matter much like potions, though the central concept seemed to be surrounding stones of varying properties. Grim had only barely scraped together his portion of homework with Yuu's nudges every few minutes so as he stayed on track. Ace, Grim and Yuu ended up dropping off their school luggage at the Ramshackle dorm while Deuce went back to his dorm room, and pretty soon they were all at the botanical gardens entrance as agreed. 

"Trey-senpai said to put the chestnuts in the corner of the kitchen so that it doesn't get in the way of the cooks tomorrow. He said he may still be there today if he's not done baking." 

"Does that guy ever stop? Anyways, let's go check out the forest." Ace and Deuce both make a move towards the forest, but Yuu calls out with a ‘wait’. They turn around, questioning why she stopped them. 

"Chestnuts are in burs, so we’ll need tongs and gloves if we’re lucky, and we're gonna need baskets or something to carry them back. Wouldn't it be more efficient to get the tools here before heading out? There's bound to be a shed or something right?" The two boys and Grim turn to each other, nod, and the group enters the glassed dome labeled “Botanical Garden”. The moment they set foot inside, Yuu couldn’t help but let a ‘wow’ escape her lips - the interior of the botanical gardens were lush green, with myriads of flowers and plants that she’d never seen before. The temperate climate seemed to allow for plants like roses and tulips to grow despite its off-season, and she was able to pick out what few fruits that she knew amongst them all. 

“Wow, it’s a lot bigger than I imagined…” Ace muttered as Deuce followed with, “There should be someone in charge of all this. Maybe they can tell us where the supplies are.” Ace decided to go to the right and Deuce to the left, leaving Grim and herself to go straight forward. She couldn’t help but trace the outlines of the pale blue hydrangeas that were lined on the side of the path, reminding her of those humid summers in Japan. She wondered when she got back, what season would it be...what year would it be…

“Yuu! Come here! There’s a lot of fruit growing!!! They look so tasty- dazo!” Ever like an excited toddler, Grim called her over to what could very well be considered someone’s fruit garden. Strawberry patches, blueberry bushes, and even some patches of carrots and strangely violets all grew in every colorful scheme. Yuu chuckles at the excitement, but warns “Don’t pick them alright?” She takes a few steps forward to go further back when her next step felt like it didn’t hit the hard ground but softer and…

“Ouch!” A deep growl emanated from behind one of the bushes, and Yuu came face to face with a tan, tall man with piercing emerald eyes glaring down at her. He looked irate, the scar over his left eye and his long, tossed hair cascading down his back. As she looks up, she notices that this man had animal ears and a tail; a tail with a tuft of brown fur at the end. ‘Oh shit, he’s a lion isn’t he,’ Yuu realizes in horror that she just did the equivalent of stepping on a cat’s tail. Except this cat was a little over a head taller than her and clearly in a very, very bad mood. 

“How dare you just walk away after stepping on someone’s tail as if nothing happened, hm?” His tenor voice was clearly threatening, irritated as if he had just woken up from sleep judging from the slight grogginess left. She knew from experience that that was definitely not a good sign. “Sorry, sir I didn’t real-” 

“Are you the gardener or something? You look kind of… rough looking though…” Yuu couldn’t stop herself from whipping her head towards Grim, who had absolutely no idea of how bad this situation could go. The man, whom now that Yuu had some time to process she noticed had a yellow vest on, complained about how his nap had been disturbed. But then, it seems he finally took an actual look at who she was and his eyes narrow into a smirk, 

“You… oh, you’re that herbivore that got told by the Mirror that you don’t have any magic. Hmm...” After a moment’s pause, the guy grabs her wrist tightly and lifts it to his nose as he sniffs a few times with his eyes closed. Her eyes widened as she stayed still - she didn’t like this, but she had a gut feeling it’d be worse if she tried to pull away. His eyes open slowly, the smirk still there but the emerald eyes shifted to pierce into her brown ones.

“What’s this? You don’t have any magic, yet you’re wrapped in a thin layer… what are you hiding?” This time, she did pull her arm away with all her might, and perhaps it was because his grip had loosened but she was able to escape his grip. Grim was next to her, half shivering in what she thought could be attributed to fear, or perhaps intrepidness from the aura exuded from this lion beastman. “Now, I don’t like hurting people that don’t have any means to defend themselves but… you’ve gone and soured my mood. You stepped on the great Leona’s tail you know… it’s only fair you leave behind a tooth as an offering.” The beastman, Leona has he called himself, took a step forward as she mirrored to take a step back. In just that moment she heard a different voice calling out to Leona, and she took the opportunity to scoop up Grim and take off farther into the botanical garden. 

“What, what was that guy?! He was such a scary gardener-dazo!” Grim exclaimed as they stopped after a minute of running, far away from Leona’s sight as far as they could tell. Yuu sighs a little, “He’s not a gardener...he had a vest on like mine, but yellow. He’s probably from Savanaclaw.” Grim nods, and Yuu noted that Leona did seem older than the rest of the people she’d seen so far; maybe there was a policy where just like people could skip grades, he was held back? Who knows. 

“Hey you two! We found the tongs and baskets!” They turned around to see Ace and Deuce coming towards them with gear in hand. Deuce must’ve noticed their expressions, because he followed up with “Are you two okay? Did something happen?” 

“Ha! That’s right! Gotta go chestnut picking!!” 

“...I’ll fill you in while we go chestnut picking.” Yuu sighed as Grim’s mood returned to being excited about the reward of a mont blanc tart, and the four of them went out to what turned out to be the back entrance of the botanical gardens. In front of them, a lush, green forest stretched for as far as their eyes could see, red apples growing high above the trees as if they were jewels peppered between the green leaves. On the ground, there were bundles and bundles of chestnut burs with their spiky exteriors just waiting to be picked up. As they began, Yuu and Grim regaled in tandem what had just happened in the garden.

“Yeah, that is definitely not the gardener.” Ace said matter-of-factly as he picked up another bur. He looked satisfied at the contents of his basket, which had become quite full with the amount they were picking.

“Does Night Raven College just...have a lot of delinquents…?” Deuce muttered out loud as Grim used his tongs to get another bundle of burs to toss into the basket on the ground. The chestnuts were abundant, but it ended up with them having a race to see who got the most because otherwise Yuu could count two members that would use some sort of excuse to slack off. She pointedly stared at Grim and Ace, who in turn looked back none the wiser. 

They continued for hours until the sun was about to set, and with all four baskets full there was no way they'd be short on chestnuts. The three humans knew that Grim was not going to be able to carry his own basket when said basket was probably the size of his entire body, so - 

“Let’s RoShamBo for it.” Yuu states as she could feel Ace and Deuce about to butt heads about who does what, and she was met with two blank stares. ‘What, did I say something...weird…?’ she thought briefly as she couldn’t see why that would’ve been odd. 

“RoShamBo?” Ace questioned, repeating the word as if it were foreign sounding to him. Deuce seemed to also have a similar opinion as his head tipped slightly to his right. 

“...Rock Paper Scissors?” Yuu tried again, and this time they both understood what she meant and agreed to the method. “Is RoShamBo what they call it where you’re from?” Deuce asked as Ace did some semblance of a warmup, whatever warmup that he thought would help win at least. “I guess so, judging by how you two didn’t know what it was. Interesting…” Yuu puts that new information off to the side as the three of them come together, and as if this were the battle to the death, they begin the call. Rock….Paper….

* * *

"You guys suck," Deuce grumbled as he trudged behind Ace, Grim and Yuu with one basket on his front, the other on his back as the groups’ feet took them to the cafeteria kitchens. Ace and Yuu had both stuck out paper whilst Deuce brought out the trusty Rock. Ace snickers remarking that all is fair in war and RoShamBo, apparently taking a liking to the term, and the two winners high five each other. 

Finding Trey was pretty simple, considering that his olive green hair stood out amidst the generally bronze interior of the kitchen. Also, 

“Funaaa, such a good smell-dazo!!” Grim's trusty nose was always a dead giveaway. The kitchen was spacious and beautiful, many of the appliances and tools seemingly new in their bronze and silver gleam. Said upperclassman was leaning over to check the contents of the oven, which as they had gotten closer they were able to smell the sweet scent of chocolate. He seemed to have noticed the four of them as he gave a good-natured wave beckoning them to come in.

“Wow, you guys really did a good job gathering the chestnuts. Put the baskets over there; we can take care of them tomorrow. I’ve already let the chefs know to not have anyone touch those.” 

“What are you baking, Trey-senpai?” Ace peered down into the lit oven as Grim positively drooled as he leaned on the warm surface. 

“Oh, that would be the gateau chocolat cupcakes. They’re to be served at tea time tomorrow.” Deuce stood there as he heard what was being made, and though he was trying to hide it as much as possible, he looked as if he could start drooling any moment . Yuu ended up being distracted by the high-tech mixer in the corner, her fingertips brushing the buttons in awe. This would’ve cost her a pretty penny, and with the kitchen sizes there there was no way she was going to buy it for herself but...she could dream of someday owning one.

“Do you like baking?” Her shoulders jumped slightly as Trey snuck up near her; the others were chomping down on what could only be some sort of confectionary, and she noticed that Trey had a cupcake in hand for her. It looked to be vanilla, but the baby pink icing as well as speckles of star sprinkles made the simple creation look like an art. She shakes her head as she thanks him for the offer, nudging towards Grim and answers as Grim wholeheartedly devours the second cupcake,

“I enjoy baking for others. Cooking as well, though I tend to make the same things if its just for myself.” She chuckles slightly, remembering how it felt like it was too much effort to cook for a single person. Eating the same leftovers for a full week wasn't something that bothered her much, but it was just the sheer effort of it all.

“So, does this mean I can’t stay at Heartslabyul until the tart is made?” Ace finishes up his cupcake as he licks his lips. Without changing his expression one bit, Trey nods. Ace’s shoulders drop slightly before his eyes meet hers, and he folds his hands near his chest with a smile that could probably fool most people as sweet. Most people. 

“Yuu~, let me stay at your place? Since I’m essentially barred by some mean senpais.” 

“Ace, don’t go bothering Yuu too much.” 

“Yeah, if you’re going to spend the next few nights at our place you better pay up! Ten tuna cans!” 

“What?! So you want me to sleep outside?!” Ace moans as both Deuce and Grim chide him for different reasons. Yuu shakes her head slightly, “It’s fine. Why don’t you go have a dormmate or someone grab clothes; you can stay in our dorm. Meet us there at 7.” She instantly felt the hard pats on her back before the orange-haired teen made a dash supposedly towards Heartslabyul. Deuce sighs a little, and as if he sensed something Trey remarks,

“If you’re so worried about Ace, why don’t you go with him to the Ramshackle dorm? I’ll give you permission as the assistant dorm leader.” Deuce opens his eyes and briefly looks towards Yuu for what she thought was approval - one nod and instantly his face lights up, leaving the kitchen in a hurry. As the door shuts, Grim looks up at her and yowl in complaint, 

“Why are you letting them stay for free-dazo!!” Yuu doesn’t bother looking down as she responds with unmasked glee, “Oh, I never said it was _free_ , Grim.” 

“...what?” 

“Remember what I said? One free night on the couch, but the rest...” Grim cackles by her feet as he catches onto what she was implying. As she bid Trey goodbye as the two of them take their leave, she could swear she saw his shoulders shake slightly. As the cool air hits their faces as they step outside, she checks and sees that it has just gone past 6pm, and the memory of their empty fridge comes back. 

“Let’s swing by the… what was it, Mister S’s Mystery Shop. Maybe they have some food for dinner.” At the prospect of dinner, Grim’s feet speed up across the pebbles and as Yuu followed, they ended up in front of what she thought could very well be a cottage. The sign “Mister S’s Mystery Shop” stood proudly in the front as the only indication that this was the correct place. Her hand slowly curls around the cold handle, and lightly pushes the door open to the sound of a sweet bell jingling above their heads. 

“Hello? Wow… what an eclectic shop.” Yuu couldn’t help but mutter the last bit as she took in the full scope of the interior of the cottage. An upright piano with candles and myriads of potion bottles, a scale with various different jewels she’d never seen before, a skull crystal ball...almost everything and anything she could and couldn't imagine seemed to be packed in here. 

“Is this place really going to have food-dazo…?” Grim looked up at her like she had lost her mind, and all she could do was shrug. 

“Hey! Little devils, what can I get for you?” 

"?!" The two of them turn around at the sudden voice, and are met face to face with a tall, black man with a generally purple and black attire, and bright white designs and body paint as if his skeletal structure is popping out at them. The top hat's patchwork was only highlighted by the contrasting complete skull, and the lime green gloves sticking out of his apron were the only thing really not in the same color scheme. Or perhaps because the lime green stuck out so much, it embodied the general feel of the store- eclectic and unique. 

"Ah yes. May we please have…" she begins listing off the ingredients for the planned group dinner, some cleaning goods, her own basic toiletries, and adds a chocolate croissant in the mix for what she owed, and a single tuna can to treat Grim later tonight if he behaved. Grim had wandered off to look at the skull crystal ball with widened eyes, and the tall man nods with each item until she was done, then suddenly, 

"IN STOCK NOW! Wait one moment little devils,” the man headed to the back with a large grin flashing his pearly whites. In what seemed like only moments the man came back out with two large bags filled with all that she had requested. ‘This shop really has everything, doesn’t it…’ she thought briefly as she digs out the appropriate bills to hand over. A moment passes as the man, she presumes is the Mr. S that is the namesake of this shop, counts the money as he opens his mouth,

“So, how is it going for you?” Sounding like small talk, Yuu begins to open her mouth before she is forced to shut it in surprise as he follows up with, “You know, with the artifact.” A devilish smile spread across his face, and she knew instantly that this was the ‘one other person’ that the principal had referred to knowing her status. Grim squawks out a surprised noise and the beads of sweat were visible somehow on his face as his panicked expression looks towards her. She sighs slowly, and after checking around the room just in case for unwelcome ears,

“It seems to be working perfectly, Mister…” 

“Oh, just Sam is fine. No need for formalities,” Sam laughs as he holds his hand out to pass the change; the coins feel slightly cooler to the touch than she was expecting. “Glad to see a satisfied customer, though I hope this was your decision?” She takes the bags from Sam’s hands, and comes face to face with an expression close to concern. He seemed satisfied as she gave a small smile and a nod, and bid them farewell as the Ramshackle residents exited the store. 

“What was that-dazo!?” Grim walks around her as they head towards their dorm, trying and failing to mask his interest at the contents of the shopping bags. 

“He sold Principal Crowley the Binding Reflection. I don’t think he’ll go spreading it around though...imagine how bad it would be for his business. Anyways, let’s start prepping for dinner for those poor boys, hm?”

“Yahoo!! Dinner, dinner!!” As Grim became excited at the prospect of dinner, she couldn’t help but think that it was a nice feeling to have another mouth to feed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally settled into the method of only putting -senpai or -sensei for spoken words since that is what Yuu hears. Also, writing out -senpai after every other mention of the name is...yeah. 
> 
> Felicity gives me the Mrs. Norris vibes - she seems like a cat that would be helpful if she likes you.


	6. The Truth About Chicks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Learning about after school activities, the quartet take on the challenge of making a mont blanc tart, and Yuu finds out what it's like to be the one to break the news.

“I can’t believe you made us clean.”

“Gotta pay for rent somehow, and besides you guys are gonna spend tonight there anyways - it's got to be better than both of you stacked on a sofa.”

The school bell rang for the end of their final class of the day, and Yuu was still getting the rap from Ace about last night. After the two boys from Heartslabyul arrived, they were on the receiving end of a reminder that yes, they will have to clean their own rooms if they don’t want to tetris themselves on the couch. The grumbling stopped as soon as they devoured their salmon and asparagus doria, their stomachs satiated in lightning speed. Though there was a near miss of them finding out she wasn't a boy, she managed to tie the bottom layer of her hair into a small ponytail before they had opened her room door. Turns out when Principal Crowley said it had to be tied, it didn't have to be the _entire_ head which was good to know.

“Anyways, are you going to check out the club fair too? Any in mind?” Deuce’s question was aimed at all three of them. They had agreed with Trey to meet up at 4pm after the club fair; at this school, it seemed they have an hour for each club to have a booth to recruit new members. The list of clubs was a lot longer than she had thought so she stopped after the first page, but they were divided where all the arts clubs were in the West Campus, athletic clubs at the Sports Field.

“I’m gonna check out the athletic clubs. What about you?” 

“I tried putting in a request for Magical Wheels Club but, it got rejected...“ Deuce’s shoulders visibly drooped as he sighed, and Yuu couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for him - he looked like a dejected puppy. He had explained with gusto the night before about Magical Wheels, which just sounded like motorcycles with magic as fuel. She wondered if it can fly. “I’m going to check out Track. Maybe check out Riding...” 

“I want to go see the athletic ones too-dazo!!” Grim jumped as he decided the best place to perch was to droop over Ace’s right shoulder. Said Ace whined about the additional weight, but he made no actual movement to remove the furball. Yuu thought back to when she actually was a high school student to her extracurricular activities - martial arts, colorguard, piano… most of them tended to be athletic. She could always do them again but she figured, why not try something completely different this time around? 

“I’ll look at the arts clubs. See you guys later?” 

“Yeah, see you later Yuu!” 

The two boys and Grim waved her goodbye as they walked in tandem, and she turned after a moment to head towards the west campus before abruptly stopping herself. She whips her head around to look all around her, but there were only a myriad of students walking to and forth from campus. 'Is someone watching me...?' Her shoulders tighten a little at the prospect, she would dare to go so far as to say it felt like the same one from the cafeteria. Letting out a sigh, she quickened her pace towards the west campus. 

The club booths weren’t lined up in the hallway like she expected, but instead were in individual classrooms to showcase their projects. As she reached the first door, her eyes scan over “Board game Club” briefly before opening the door. 

The classroom was perhaps half full with students from varying dorms scattered about looking at the varying games displayed along the tables. As she walked around, she couldn’t help but stop at the familiar game in front of her - she wasn’t expecting to see Game of Life in Twisted Wonderland. 

“Hello, Yuu Hatanaka-san! Do you like the Game of Life?” As she heard a young boy’s voice, it was all she could do to keep a neutral expression as she came face to face with a very literally bright, young boy. The boy’s body was silver, his eyes a bright yellow citrine, and his hair...his hair burning. In literal blue flames. Moreover, she noticed that the boy’s mouth didn’t move, but there seemed to be voice conduits around his cheeks. ‘Androids are real here huh… wow, this world really is something,’ she thinks as she speaks out loud, “Yes, I used to play with my cousins.” 

“Really!? Do you want to play with us? We can set up after they’re done!” The little boy points to the center, where there were four people sitting around a game that she was unable to see. First, she nearly gasped in surprise as there was a literal tablet floating at one of the chairs facing away from her - a quiet boys’ voice came out of its speakers. She was able to connect that this was the same tablet that was floating around at the entrance ceremony two days ago. Across from him facing her direction was a boy with silver, wavy hair and grey eyes; she recalls this was the boy that Trey had indicated was part of Octavinelle dorm. His face had a victorious smile, which was all the more evident at the other two boys' expressions were contorted in frustration. She returns to face to the kid, and smiles gently,

“Unfortunately I have to go around to check out the other clubs. Can I get a rain check on that...um…”

“Oh, I’m Ortho Shroud! That’s my brother, Idia playing there! We're both third years!” Ortho pointed towards Idia, which was apparently the name of the floating tablet. Yuu couldn't help lift an eyebrow; she was surprised that _a tablet_ was considered a student, but also the sheer fact that Ortho was not like any of the androids shown in sci-fi films she'd ever seen. Emotions, expressions … very human-like, she notes, though considering the different species' in Twisted Wonderland, she wondered if human-like would even be the correct term to use. She nods once, then sticks out her hand as she bows slightly, 

"Well, Ortho, it's nice to meet you. It seems you already know my name but, I'm Yuu. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Ortho's hand reaches to wrap his fingers around her hand, and the metal is cool to the touch as he gripped a little tighter than is comfortable. "Oh yes! You're quite famous, Yuu Hatanaka-san" Ortho exclaimed excitedly as Yuu could only wryly smile back, bidding a hasty farewell to the strange, kind boy before leaving. 

She passed by the Book Club, Divination Club, Animal Languages Club and as she was just about to round the corner of the hall, she heard an explosion and witnessed a door flying by right in front of her face. 

“!!?” A silent shock came about her, and after a moment’s pause her feet were able to move her forward to the classroom that clearly the door belonged to just a few moments ago. Dark smoke floated out of the open frame slowly as Yuu put her face into her elbow to avoid inhalation and proceeded in. Multiple students in their assigned lab coats were coughing as their white outfits were coated in soot, and from the corner of her eye she saw a familiar pointer flick before all smoke dissipated away. As Mr. Crewel began to critique the responsible group for said explosion, Yuu spotted a familiar olive green haired teen in the corner.

“Oh! Yuu, you came! Sorry about this,” Trey called out as he noticed her, his own lab coat returning to a pristine white as he walked over to where she stood. She nods slightly, 

“What happened here?” 

“Oh, we were having potential club members try out an experiment, but looks like one of them got excited and put a bit too much Popping Pincers in the mix.” He laughs as if it were nothing, but Yuu figured this ‘a bit’ was the equivalent of ‘way too much.’ 

“Is there anything I can do to help clean up?” She offered, and Trey looked down as he shook his head. “No, Crewel-sensei will make them clean it up. Anyways, you’re here about the club right? Allow me,” he indicates for her to follow him as they round the room. Along the walls were myriads of experimental results ranging from a rock that glowed in an eerie yellow light to an encased display with floating pyramid wooden blocks. She couldn’t help but be in awe at everything in front of her.

“In the Science Club, we conduct a wide variety of experiments that can either be from whatever Crewel-sensei feels would challenge us or from student suggestions. The motto is ‘try anything, discover everything,’ so there really isn’t a bar on what we are allowed to do save for ones that are limited Crewel-sensei. Though sometimes there are accidents,” he points out the earlier group, who has since restarted whatever they were trying to do under Mr. Crewel’s sharp gaze, “there’s always an opportunity to try again.” Yuu nods slowly at the sight, approving that this club doesn’t have the policy to stop kids’ hopes and efforts to try again upon failure. Being able to conduct experiments with unknown materials to her heart’s content… that sounded wonderfully fun. The edges of her mouth lift into a small smile, and Trey continues, 

“We meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays and sometimes extra when there’s events going on. But, a lot of people use their own time for their own side projects. For example, I have a special strawberry garden. You should come and check it out sometime. Here,” a white paper with ‘Science Club Entry Request’ written on it was handed to her, “If you want to join, just hand this to Crewel-sensei by next Tuesday. I have to go and talk to other people, but I’ll catch you at 4 alright?” Yuu waves a small goodbye to Trey as he goes to another student staring at a bottle filled with a liquid looking similar to melted metal. With paper held to her chest, she walks out of the room with fluttering excitement. 

“Oh, the uninhibited pursuit of science! Beaute!” A deep voice rings next to her, making her jump in surprise for the umpteenth time in the hour. The voice belonged to a teen boy with a blonde bob cut donning a large hunter’s cap, and she recognizes this boy was in Pomfiore. He was looking into the Science Club with something akin to a loving gaze before turning towards her. Yuu tilts her head slightly before nodding in agreement to the other’s approval, and as she looks back up her eyes meet sparkling green ones, she recognizes this feeling. This gaze, observing... As realization dawns on her, she couldn’t stop her mouth from letting out a “It was you…”

“Hm?” The blonde’s eyes thin slightly, beckoning for her to continue.

“You were watching me, weren’t you. The past two days.” She could feel her shoulders tense, left foot slightly back to get ready to dart if necessary. A moment’s pause as the green tourmaline eyes widen in surprise followed by a barking laugh. The feather on the boy’s hat bobbed slightly as if to match the owner’s amusement. 

“Oh, Trickster! My my, how interesting! Do not worry, observation is simply a hobby of mine, I mean no harm. I must take my leave- I look forward to seeing you in our club.” He pats her tense shoulder briefly before heading into the Science Club room, and she waited until he was absolutely out of her sight before making a mad dash around the corner, only realizing after she stopped at the end of the next hallway that she didn’t ask for his name. ‘Staring without meaning any harm...a bit...odd. And did he just call me Trickster… ?,’ she briefly thought as she nearly dived face first into the chest of the second orange-haired boy that she knew.

“Oh! Yuu-chan, fancy bumping into you here! Are you here to check out our club?” Cater’s excited voice rang out as he excitedly clapped her back; she wondered if clapping people’s backs was a standard greeting at an all-boys’ school. She noticed that unlike the other students in their uniforms (or lab coats in the case of Science Club), he was donned in the ceremonial garb from the entrance ceremony. The golden sash really brought out his eyes. ‘Club?’ she wonders as her eyes scan to the door to her right labeled “Light Music Club.” 

“Oh, no I wasn--”

“Why don’t you come try out! It’ll be fun! We usually just eat treats and chat but the principal insisted we gotta have tryouts. We’re technically a band and all!” 

“Tryo-- hey don’t push me Cater-senpai!” Said upperclassman had rounded behind her grasping both shoulders from the back with a stronger grip than she had expected. He lightly said out a ‘yeah yeah’ as he pushed her forward towards the club door. 

“Guys! We have a tryout here from Yuu-chan!” Cater paid no mind to her feeble protest as the door slammed open. This was clearly the music room with multitudes of instruments lined up and against the walls. Inside were two faces that she recognized- one was upside down Lillia with his black and pink hair and the other,

“Oh!! You’re the one that helped put out the fire on my butt!” The silver haired boy, Kalim, had quite possibly the brightest smile that any singular human could have on their face as he rounded towards the two of them. She smiled a little at the memory as the boy rushed up, herself having no way of escaping the enthusiastic handshake that followed as Cater and Kalim had her under full lockdown. After Kalim seemingly got his energy out, his garnet eyes positively sparkle as they look into hers,

“I’m usually not good with names and faces, but you I remember!! Uhm…”

“Yuu, my name is Yuu.” She felt like he just contradicted his own statement as she chuckles slightly.

“Oh! Haha, it’s like ‘you’ but ‘Yuu’! You... you seem a little different though?” 

“Oh, probably because the ceremonial robe was covering my face?” Yuu laughs a little airily as she hopes to the high heavens that her expression wasn't reflecting the inner panic she was experiencing. She forgot that Kalim was the only person aside from Principal Crowley and Grim that saw her face up close before getting the Binding Reflection. She was hardly going to deny that she felt immense relief when Kalim exclaimed “Oh that makes sense!” and let the situation go.

“Anyways, I’m Kalim! A second-year and dorm leader of Scarabia! You’re here to try out right!? What are you gonna do?” Thankfully Kalim gave her some breathing room and Cater let go of her shoulders. Her eyes scan over to the clock on the wall - she still had a good twenty minutes before she had to be back in the cafeteria. Plus, it didn’t look that any of these three were going to let her go without her doing something. Her eyes scan over the instruments as she carefully folds and tucks the Science Club Entry Request sheet into her pocket, and settles on what she felt most comfortable with.

“Is piano okay?” 

“Oho, you’re going to play the piano? Will you be singing as well?” Lillia had without fail, decided to pop right next to her and, without fail, she jumped back in surprise. He laughed boisterously as if he were enjoying making her jolt. She shakes her head a little, “I can choose the song?” The three of them nod in excitement as she is ushered forward towards the grand piano that stood proudly on center stage. As the other three leave her be to presumably take their seats, her index finger lightly grazes the familiar black and white keys. One push down, and a clear C note rings out - good, it’s in tune. As she sits down on the piano bench and begins to adjust, familiarity wraps around her like a comforting hug. The keys in front of her, the bench at just the right height, the feeling of her arms bent just enough to get a good distance from the keys… it felt nice. She didn’t quite like singing in front of others but playing piano, that she could do. She smiles slightly as her gaze falls on Cater one more time, inhales, and remembering the adagio version in her dream, begins to play. 

_Painting the Roses Red_

The start was the traditional variation she knew as a child in major key, happy in contrast to the rather dark consequences in the lyrics themselves. But that only lasted for a few seconds before she swapped out the tone with a key change, giving the song a much more sinister tone. The tempos and rests were modified to give it a jazzier feel than the original. She could feel herself slightly bobbing her head as she played, a bad habit that her mother had chided her about that she never quite got over. With a glissando and final note her fingers lift from the ivory keys, and she could hear the three boys clapping as Kalim and Cater made a dash towards her, 

“Wow Yuu-chan, I didn’t know you knew that song!” 

“? It’s a song here as well…?” Yuu couldn’t help but tilt her head in confusion as Cater’s eyes widened in whatever realization he just had. 

“Wait, you mean it’s in your world as well?! Wow, what a coincidence!” Yuu widened her eyes slightly at this; if there were shared songs, then perhaps there are shared cultures, shared holidays. They already seem to be operating on the Gregorian calendar, though she highly doubt they call it as such.

“I believe that was an arrangement for a children’s song in the Rose Kingdom, correct?” Lillia responds, and Cater nods. 

“But wow your piano was really fun! I wanted to just stand up and dance along!!” 

“Kalim-kun, you _were_ dancing along. Anyways, we would totally love to have a keyboard! What do you say, hm? We usually meet Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but a lot of times we just chat and eat snacks!” A blank “Light Music Club Entry Request” sheet was all but shoved into her face as her fingers wrapped around the edge of the paper. She looks up to three expectant faces, and though she feels a twinge of guilt she was able to muster out a “Can I please think about it?” without much hesitation.

“Okay no worries! Just hand in that sheet to either me or Lillia-chan by next Tuesday okay? Even if you don’t join, you can get the Cay-kun treatment of coming in whenever you want!” Cater cheerfully seemed to wrap the conversation nicely though she felt that that seemed to negate the point of a tryout, and Yuu was able to slink herself out of the room after managing to peel away Kalim’s tugging hands and suffering another jump scare from Lillia much to the short boy’s delight. Carefully, she folds the white paper and places it with the Science Club sheet in her pocket. Her watch read 3:48; she could probably peek into another room before heading back. A strange sign read “Gargoyle Research Society” and she had to assume it was some sort of extension of an architecture club. Although she does take a peek inside, there didn’t appear to be anyone manning the presentation display. Figuring the members were closing up shop for the day, she carries herself forward down towards the final door where she full-on stopped. The last sign read “Mountain Appreciation Club,” and instantly she was intrigued. Was this like a mountaineering club, or a hiking club? Actually, are the mountains in this world different?

“Hello?” She opens the door as a calm voice comes from inside beckoning her to come in. The room was decorated with a myriad of photos of simple flora and fauna ranging from the common dandelion to some sort of squirrel variant with its cheeks full of food. In the center of the room was a tall teenage boy with gold and olive heterochromia eyes and a beautiful light blue earring dangling off his left ear. 

‘He must be the blue-haired kid I saw yesterday from afar,’ she thinks briefly as she makes sure to not stare at the turquoise hair this boy donned. On top of that, it seemed that a chunk of his bangs was longer and darker than the rest...perhaps it was some sort of fashion statement? She could be told that people have popcorn for hair and believe it at this point. 

“Ah, have you come in interest of the Mountain Appreciation Club?” The boy spoke in a soothing voice, and she was reminded of those butlers that virtually make the impossible, possible. She simply nods a little as she closes in on one of the photos of a familiar mushroom.

“Is this a brown beech mushroom?” 

“Why, yes it is, Ramshackle Dorm Prefect.” The boy stood next to her, and with their height difference the top of her head only reached up to his smooth jawline, forcing her to look up to him in curiosity. 

“May I ask who you may be?” 

“Oh, my apologies, where are my manners? My name is Jade Leech, and I’m the president of Mountain Appreciation Club, as well as the assistant dorm leader for Octavinelle. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” His left hand crossed over to his right chest as he bowed slightly, and she mirrored his bow without the hand motion. “Yuu Hatanaka, but I take it you already knew?” Jade didn’t directly respond as he merely chuckled. She decided to let it go, assuming he knew from the apparent spread of the chandelier incident coming to mind, and returned to looking at the photos.

“Is this club more like mountaineering or hiking?” She asks lightly as she lifts her hand slowly to touch the corner of a photo of a pink bell heather.

“The Mountain Appreciation Club isn’t like mountaineering; I don’t go and gather trophies or stamps for climbing mountains. This club mainly goes around the mountains near campus, simply appreciating everything that nature offers.” 

“What got you interested?”

“...Well, where I am from there were no mountains, so everything in itself interests me. Granted I don’t do any sort of serious experimentation like the Science Club - it’s simply enjoying everything that the mountains offer with all five of my senses.” A pause in Jade’s explanation as Yuu nods, understanding that this was definitely much more along the lines of hiking that she had come to enjoy. 

“Pardon my interest, but what do you enjoy about the mountains? I assume you have some interest since you seem to recognize these plants?” Yuu nods slightly. 

“Of course, there’s the sense of accomplishment of reaching the very top, but it’s… the whole picture, I think,” she pauses a little as she reflects back to her own hiking adventures, “There’s mountains where you can see the most breathtaking sunrise in the world, but then all the mountains change throughout the year. The changes from season to season offers different views of the same mountain and...really, I can never get tired of it. The fall’s color changing leaves to the new buds in the spring, the silence of winter and lush green of the summer, it’s always wonderful. There was this one time I…” She catches herself as she realizes she was about to go off on a tangent and looks back to Jade who, though his general expression remained the same, his eyes were gleaming with genuine interest. 

“Ah, sorry. I spoke too much.”

“Do not apologize, you’re the first person I’ve spoken to that so openly professed their love for the mountains. Please, I insist; if you wish to join, please turn it into me by next Tuesday.” Jade passes over the now familiar-looking white sheet as Yuu takes it with both hands. 

“Since I work at Mostro Lounge, there’s no set schedule for the club as of this moment. However, if you do join I would happily communicate on a bi-weekly basis a schedule that works for club activities.” She was about to ask what this ‘Mostro Lounge’ was when her eyes glanced at the clock - 3:58. She only had 2 minutes to get to the kitchen. She gives one last bow to Jade as she bids a rushed farewell, carefully holding the entry request sheet to her chest as she makes a mad dash towards the cafeteria. 

* * *

  
  


“Dude did you run a marathon or something Sparkles?” 

“I...I had 2 minutes, okay Carrots?” 

She managed to run probably the fastest in her life for the second time in two days as she slid into the cafeteria at 4:00 on the dot. Deuce, Ace, Grim and Trey were already there, and all four of them were looking at her like she grew an extra head. 

“Yuu!! Hurry up, I want to make a big tart-dazo!” Grim seemed a bit miffed as he lifted his paws up to signal he wanted to be picked up. She wasn’t about to deny his request, curse his cute face. 

“Well, now that Yuu is here, let’s get started on prepping the chestnuts…” Trey began explaining the process of peeling, scoring, boiling, frying, then peeling the chestnuts again, and soon enough the group were working on this rather long and tedious process. Trey, thankfully, had peeled off the spiky exterior with a flick of his magical pen as the four of them started with making sure that the chestnuts were in good condition. Then came the scoring; Ace and Yuu were assigned to scoring scissors while the other two were to magically score the chestnuts. 

“Ugh, these are difficult to use.” Ace complained as his hand slipped trying to score; Trey had given them a demonstration on how to use the equipment, but it was proving to be a bit more difficult than they anticipated. From what Yuu gathered, the purpose of scoring was to cut a length-wide cut through the outer shell. ‘So it shouldn’t matter what equipment we use, right?’ She goes to open a couple drawers before she finds what she was looking for, and returns to Ace with two pairs of kitchen scissors. 

“Here, try these.” Yuu hands over a pair to the boy, and Ace takes the scissors while looking at her like _she_ was the nut. She lays the chestnuts flat on the board, then does one snip, spins the chestnut, snips the other side, and smiles in satisfaction. Beside her, Ace seems to pick up on the action, and changes his own methodology. The two of them fall into a rhythm, and they (Ace moreso than Yuu) couldn’t mask their own sense of pride when Deuce and Grim gasped at their apparent increased speed. They ended up beating the other pair in finishing their portion of chestnuts.

“Now you two, put the chestnuts in these bowls. Usually we have to steep them for two hours but Jerry was kind enough to lend us his special speed bowls, so we just need them to soak for half an hour.” 

“Who’s Jerry?” 

“Jerry’s one of the kitchen ghosts, he’s quite kind.” Ace hums in acknowledgment as their chestnuts soak and they end up going over to help out the other two, in which Ace took great pleasure in saying how non-magic methods were working _so_ much faster because their magic was _so_ bad. Deuce nearly threw a chestnut at Ace’s face before Trey had to step in and calm them down. 

By the time they managed to soak the other half, boil the chestnuts, fry and then finally peel, everyone’s arms were in pain and the sun was about to set. Looking at the four first years’ exhausted faces, Trey gives a small huff of laughter.

“Hey, think about it this way - all the effort you guys put in is going to make this taste even better.” Even Grim, who would usually instantly perk up at this sort of comment, lay exhausted as he mulled that just the smell has made him full. Deuce and Ace grumble out another tired sigh, and Yuu had to chuckle a little at the sight. Trey seems to pay no mind as he starts to turn the chestnuts into paste.

“Now, we have to add butter, salt...and finally, a swig of oyster sauce to taste.” 

“OYSTER SAUCE?!” That made Ace’s and Deuce’s heads snap up as well as made Grim sit up in shock. Yuu caught Trey’s stare, and if she were a betting woman, she would bet 10,000 madol (that’s about 1 man yen, right?) that he was totally pulling their legs. ‘Oh, this I got to watch,’ she thinks as she decides to stay quiet , only indicating her amusement by her slightly shaking shoulders. 

“Of course, the umami from fresh oysters gives the cream a deeper flavor. This ‘Walrus Certified Young Oyster Sauce’ here, actually,” Trey continues as he pulls out a fresh bottle of oyster sauce, complete with a cute walrus sticker, “all famous pastry chefs use this in their tarts.” If these two boys had any semblance of baking knowledge they have _got_ to know he is pulling their legs. 

“Seriously…? Isn’t that sauce really salty?”

“But they do put chocolate in curry...so maybe it makes sense?” 

They had no knowledge whatsoever, and Yuu couldn’t hold back her laughter anymore as her barely concealed chuckles flowed out of her mouth as Trey began to laugh boisterously. The other two first years looked between Trey and herself in tandem looking confused.

“Gotcha! There’s no way anyone in their right mind would put oyster sauce in tarts.” 

“Are you for real?! I believed you! And you! You knew and didn’t tell us!” Ace’s accusatory finger points between Trey and herself, clear betrayal written all over his face. She merely shrugs as the last chuckle finally leaves her chest. 

“Ahaha! Come on, just think a little and you’d know right off the bat it’s a lie. Well, I guess this is a lesson not to blindly trust what people tell you - you have got to always have a pinch of doubt.” 

“This guy, he seems nice but lies as if he’s talking about the weather-dazo…” Grim whispers to her as he stands on the kitchen island, and she has to nod in agreement. What perfect execution. 

“Next is the whipping crea--- oh no.” 

“? What’s wrong senpai?” Ace seemed to catch Trey's genuine surprise as he stops grumbling about being tricked. 

“You guys got so many chestnuts, I went overboard on the paste and don’t have enough whipping cream.”

“I can go get it for you. Do they sell it at the school store?” Deuce offers to go get the necessary ingredient, and the upperclassman looks genuinely appreciative as Deuce pulls over a nearby notepad with a pen at the ready.

“Pretty sure- that store has just about everything. Actually, can you get a few other things as well? I need two milks, two packs of eggs, five cans of fruit, aluminum cups…” As the list gets longer and longer, Deuce’s brows furrow. 

“I can’t carry this alone… Yuu, can you come with me?” 

“Sure, no problem.” As she nods and gets ready to stand up, Grim tugs on her armband with his front paws. His eyes are positively sparkling. 

“It’s the same store as yesterday right? I want to go too-dazo!”

“No, Grim, you stay here with Ace and listen to Trey-senpai, okay? I’ll get you a tuna can if you behave.”

“I’ll stay-dazo!” Though he had seemed annoyed at the initial refusal, in the end the lure of the tuna can was too much for him to resist. He happily switched his gears to help out with whatever else Trey required of them to do. Sometimes she genuinely worries of how Grim's easily convinced with food. 

* * *

“Wow this store is...something. A skull crystal ball...grimoires… What is this taxidermy of...? Is this place really going to have whipping cream…?” Deuce looks surprised at the eclectic nature of Mr. S’s Mystery Shop, pausing in front of a taxidermy of some sort of rat-like creature on the table. 

“If it helps, I bought our dinner supplies here yesterday.”

“Seriously?” She could only nod as Deuce looked at her in disbelief. She wouldn’t have believed it either if she hadn’t seen the products herself. 

“Hey! Little lost devils, how are you all today? Oh, you’re back again?” Sam’s voice rings out as he strolls out from the back of the store. Yuu gives him the briefest nod as Sam continues his salesman tactics, striding over to the two of them as he grabs a few items from the shelves.

“Now, what can I get you both today? Perhaps a rare protection charm from unexplored regions? Or a mummy of an ancient king? Or perhaps, a deck of cursed tarot cards?” 

“Ah, no thank you. We would like the items on this list…” Deuce managed to resist the odd assortment of items as Sam’s eyes scan over the written text. 

“I see… Whipping cream, eggs… oh what a sweet lineup! I’ll get that right out for you, little devil.” 

“Oh, can I have a can of tuna as a separate transaction please?” 

“Sure thing!” With that, Sam disappears into the back once again; Yuu wonders if all of the refrigerated goods, or perhaps it was all food products, were kept in the back. 

“Wow… he really does have everything huh.” Deuce mutters contemplatively as his gaze shifts down to the skull crystal ball on the side shelf. Yuu nods as her gaze pans over to the pirate’s chest atop a cabinet, overflowing with golden coins and jewelry. She wondered if these were merely a prop or if they were cursed like those pirate ghost stories as she fished around in her pocket for the madol coins. 

“Alright here you go. It’s quite heavy but will you be able to carry it all? I can offer you a 30% discount on a 1/100 size UFO to carry it for you!” As Deuce and Yuu paid for the items, Sam doesn’t give up as he pushes forward a mini-UFO in their faces. She couldn’t help but feel like there wasn’t anything that _wasn’t_ at this store.

“N-no thank you! Let’s go back Yuu.” The two of them grab the four bags filled with groceries as they leave the store with Sam calling out to them to come back again soon. The bags were a little heavier than she expected, but nothing compared to when she had to bring groceries from Costco back to her apartment via train. As the two of them round to Main Street, she readjusts the bag for a better grip as the cans rustle against each other. 

“Yuu, let’s swap bags,” Deuce offered as he held out a bag himself, “there’s a trick to carrying heavy ones.” As they swap, she couldn’t help but feel her heart warm at the kind gesture this boy just did, the bag noticeably lighter without the canned goods. But she thought it was odd that a teenage boy would know ‘tricks’ to handle heavy shopping bags. Unless,

“Do you go grocery shopping often?” Deuce huffs out a laugh at her question, “Yeah. Whenever there’s a timed sale, Mom would just buy as much as she can so the bags end up being really, really heavy. I’m the only guy in our house so I end up doing all the heavy lifting and…” Deuce stops himself mid-sentence as Yuu keeps her gaze on him, keen on hearing the rest. He seemed like a really good kid, helping out his mom like that. “Sorry, I’m babbling a bit huh.” Yuu shakes her head at Deuce’s apology with a small smile on her lips, 

“Don’t apologize; you’re such a good kid, helping out your mother like that.” She tries to recall if she was ever that helpful to her own mother at his age. Besides the odd times here and there, their own schedules never aligned with her mother’s work and her own schooling. Her head shakes slightly to herself at her folly; she wished she was more like Deuce back then. But said Deuce now looked pensive as he lets out a sigh, 

“...No, it’s not like that at all. I made her… !!” He never got to finish his sentence as someone came from the corner and bumped into his shoulder, hard. Yuu could hear the eggs cracking, as did Deuce as he exclaimed how one of the six packs was completely cracked. The inside of the bag was completely covered in egg yolk, and their attention was pulled back with a gruff voice exclaiming, “Ouch! Where do you think you’re...wait… you’re the ones that cracked my carbonara egg today.” 

“You guys again? Seriously cut the crap man.” 

Silver hair, Heartslabyul armband, black piercings, the other a redhead with a matching armband… Yuu was able to recollect that these two were the same ones that threatened them during lunch. Her eyes thin in annoyance; these two kids clearly were aiming for this. ‘How petty,’ she can’t help think as Deuce responds back to the two perpetrators in a cold tone, 

“...you were the ones that popped out from round the corner. It wasn’t like you weren’t able to eat the egg during lunch, and yet you still come and pick a fight with us…We just had an entire pack of eggs ruined.” 

“How petty of them,” she couldn’t help but voice to Deuce what she was already thinking, and that must’ve made the upperclassmen irate. Their eyes blazed in anger, tone aggressive as the silver-haired one responds, “Are you trying to say that it’s _my_ fault?” His legs spread wider into a power stance, his chest puffed - it looked like he was gearing for a fight. 

“Yes. Pay us back for the eggs. And apologize to the chickens.” Yuu’s gaze looks up a little at Deuce’s last comment about the apology in confusion, but leaves it for now. Clearly the two upperclassmen had different plans.

“Wow aren’t you overreacting? It’s just a couple of eggs man.” 

“...hm?” Deuce’s tone went lower than earlier, clearly annoyed. 

“It’s not like it fell on the ground, it’s still edible. Stop being so picky about it, hm?”

“Hey I saved you some time from having to crack 'em! Hahahaha!!!” The two boys cackle loudly in the otherwise silent Main Street. Before Yuu could react in any fashion, she heard Deuce mutter something under his breath, and it seemed like the other two did as well. His eyes were cold and filled with clear rage as he exploded,

“...ut ... up…”

“Hm?”

“I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP!! YOU’VE GOT NO RIGHT SAYING SHIT LIKE THAT! THESE EGGS WERE GOING BECOME A DELICIOUS TART SINCE THEY CAN’T BE CHICKS!! DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND, HM?!!?” Yuu leaned back with her eyes wide in surprise, and the two upperclassmen seemed to be taken by surprise at the very apparent change in demeanor. She saw a little bit of this yesterday at the mines but this was on a whole different level. ‘Oh, this is going to turn violent isn't it,’ she surmised as she gently wraps her fingers around the bags Deuce held in his hands. His grip loosened as both bags went to her, and he began to crack his knuckles as she put the rest of their groceries at a safe distance.

“W-what the hell is with this guy!?” 

“If you’re not gonna pay us back for the six eggs, then I’m gonna punch you both six times.”

“W-what?!” 

“You asked for it!!” Deuce dashed forward towards the stunned upperclassmen, landing a solid punch in the silver one’s guts. A grunt emanates as well as the sound of another punch hitting its target. The red haired one takes a step back with his hand clutching his right cheek and Deuce is back to the silver-haired one. Yuu knows she has to stop this before it gets out of hand more than it already has, but the moment she steps forward the red haired one notices her. 

“You don’t think you’re gonna get away from this do ya?!” He charges towards her, his right hand formed into a fist. He wasn’t nearly as quick as her instructors had been and she really didn’t want to join the fray but, this was self-defense right? It must be her luck that they chose a simple fist fight instead of using magic - at least she could defend herself. As the boy’s fist closes in she instinctively opens her left leg out to put her body weight on, right hand outstretched to chop the punch away from her before she grabs his right wrist...hard. Before the boy was able to do anything else, her left hand forcefully pushed down on the inside of his elbow, and proceeded to fold his arm up. His yowls near her face as his arm was forced back as her left palm lifted his elbow while her right hand pulled his wrist towards her. Her right leg hooks behind the redhead’s as she pushes without letting her arms go, and he effectively is smashed down onto the cobblestoned street with air thrown out of his lungs. Her left hand switches with her right as it keeps pushing down the arm uncomfortably behind the boy, and she lifts her right hand to punch the boy in the face. The boy shouts beneath her in fear, his eyes wide as she halts the punch right at the tip of his nose. Without letting go of the pressure she was putting on his twisted right arm, she speaks plainly, 

“I have a proposition, if I may.”

“W-What?!” She could see tear beads forming at the edge of his eyes as he stared up at her own. The more he struggled out of her grip, the more his arm became crushed under her weight. 

“Yes. You give us the 200 madol it cost for the eggs your friend broke and promise to never do this again, and we’ll let you guys go. If not, well, you can join your friend over there.” The redhead lifts his chin up to see his friend behind him, and what he saw was Deuce landing a few more punches to the silver haired friend’s stomach. 

“F-Fine! Here!” The boy must’ve gotten her message in a heartbeat as his left hand digs through his pants pocket and nearly throws the coins in his haste. She finally lets go of her grip, and the redheaded boy scrambles out of her reach, quickly grabbing his friend as they both scream out how it wasn't just six punches and apologies to the nonexistent chickens. 

“Next time you better apologize 100 times before eating eggs you dipshits!!” Deuce, seemingly running on an adrenaline high, was still breathing heavily while watching the two upperclassmen run to the high hills. Yuu sighs as she goes back to where she had placed their groceries, carefully taking out the undamaged goods from the yolk-covered bag and placed them to the side. She hears a gasp behind her as she stands back up with the now mostly empty yolk-covered bag, coming face to face with Deuce, who seemed to have realized what he’d just been doing a few moments ago.

“Shit, I...I really did it this time…” She didn’t like the dejected look he was donning, and sighed a little. 

“Look, why don’t you take a few moments to catch your breath while I go get a new pack? Since they reimbursed us.” Deuce simply nods in silence at her suggestion, leaving her to hurry so she could return as soon as possible to the black-haired teen. 

By the time she came back with a new pack of eggs, bag, and some paper towels donated by Sam, Deuce was sitting solemnly next to the bags of groceries. She passes him a couple of paper towels, and for a few moments they wipe the yolk-covered items in relative silence before Deuce opens his mouth. 

“Where’d you learn how to fight like that?” He asked without looking up at her, still concentrating on scrubbing off some of the yolk under one of the can’s tabs. 

“My father insisted I should learn some self-defense. He used to say, and I quote” Yuu continues as she deepens her voice to sound so remotely not like her father, her hands on her waist and puffing out her chest, “You've got to be able to throw hands if you need to. Cops don't have super sonic speed ya know!” She chuckles a little at the memory of her father bringing home a brand new martial arts uniform insisting she goes to the classes. She ended up sticking with them all the way through middle and high school and it was one of those skills that there was no disadvantage to having them.

“Super...sonic?” Deuce questions as he chuckles along at her fake deep voice, and she nods as she places a cleaned milk carton into the bag. “His thought process was that, even if you call the police for help they still have to _get_ there. It could be a few seconds if you’re lucky, but it could be minutes. A lot can happen in those minutes… what if the bad guy has a knife or a gun? He wanted me to have something so that I can at least get away and increase the change for survival.” 

“Your dad sounds like he really cares for you.” The smile donned by Deuce was soft, his eyes looking far away as if he were thinking of someone else. 

“Yeah…but can you keep it between us for now? I'd rather not have everyone know I can...” she trails off as Deuce nods earnestly, and another silence falls between the two. Deuce lets out a deep sigh after a few moments.

“This time... I was going to be a model student…” his voice sounded melancholic, and Yuu was curious why he opened with this line. She gives him a ‘hm?’ sound as she looks up without stopping her hands. Deuce’s own hands were grabbing another milk carton to clean as he continued, 

“When I was in middle school, I was a delinquent… I got into fights every day, skipped school constantly, called teachers by their first names...hung out with senpais that were even worse than I was, and I bleached my hair until it was platinum blonde. I sped down highways on Magical Wheels and even used magic to intimidate people without...without magic.” Slowly, Deuce started detailing his middle school past, and all she could do was nod and stare. Even though she figured from the earlier fight that he probably was involved in scuffles before, she never imagined that the same Deuce that scolded Ace yesterday for skipping out on window cleaning duty was the same one he was talking about. As if a dam had been opened, Deuce continued without stopping,

“But then one night… I saw Mom calling Grandma over the phone, crying. Saying things like, like how maybe the way she raised me was wrong, or that maybe because she was a single parent I ended up that way,” his brows furrowed in frustration as his grip around the fruit can tightened and make a creaking noise, “as if. Mom did nothing wrong. It was entirely my own fault!” He lets out a slow sigh as he takes a breath, “So, when the Ebony Carriage came for me and Mom looked so happy, I made myself a promise. I was never going to make Mom cry like that again. I decided that I was going to become a model student, one that Mom would be proud of. And now… shit!” The grip he had on the can tightens even more in frustration, and Yuu instinctively reaches out to lightly touch the top of his right hand. As Deuce’s shoulders jolt up in surprise at the touch, she speaks softly, 

“Being a model student doesn’t mean you have to just take everything, you know.” 

“...what?” The question was so soft, it very nearly made her want to wrap her arms around him despite knowing better. 

“Being a ‘model student’ doesn’t mean they have to take things lying down; you’re allowed to defend yourself and stand up for what you believe in. Obviously you can’t go around beating people up on a whim, but... Besides, you already trying to change, right? That’s what matters. I’m sure your mother is already proud of you.” 

“Yuu…” His aquamarine eyes finally meet her own brown ones as she smiles back, picking up two of the bags in one hand as she stands back up. “Come on Deuce, let’s get back. The boys are probably wondering where we are.” She reaches down with her right hand, which after a moment of pause, Deuce smiles as he grabs the other bags and then proceeds to take her hand to get up. 

“Yeah...hehe. The chicks are hopefully resting in peace now.” His gentle voice was back, and Yuu felt that she was about to know exactly how a parent feels when they accidentally reveal that Santa doesn’t exist. 

“Um, Deuce, I’m sorry to have to tell you but, those eggs… they weren’t ever going to hatch.” 

“....EEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHH?!?!?!?!!!”

* * *

“Dude, did something happen while you guys were out?” Ace whispers to her as she smiles wryly. The group had just managed to finish baking a gargantuan mont blanc tart along with a smaller one for their little ragtag group; the paste was beautifully spiraled as the glazed chestnut lay at the top sprinkled with powdered sugar. While Ace and Grim were absolutely delighted in their accomplishment, Deuce seemed to be in a state of shock the entire time mumbling like a broken record about chicks and eggs. 

“For16 years...I believed...why…”

“Just be gentle with him right now, okay?” She whispers back to Ace, who simply shrugs before heaving out a sigh. “Man, baking takes such a long time...I’m so tired…” Both he and Grim had identical faces of exhaustion as they lay their heads on the kitchen counter. 

“Hey y’all! Oh, the tart’s all finished? Wow it’s so cute!! Gotta get a picture for the Cam!” The kitchen door suddenly bursts open to a jovial Cater, who promptly takes out his phone to take photos. Yuu wondered if Magicam has something like those food accounts on Instagram. 

“Hey you! What are you slinking in here for?” 

“I came in to check on my cute kouhai to see how they are doing and… pfffft, you guys look so tired! Ahaha!” Cater doubles over as he sees the collective group’s emanating exhaustion, and none of them have a micron of energy left to deal with his excitement. 

“Haha, yeah you get tired when you do something you’re not used to doing huh. Well, as they say, when you’re tired, bring out the sweets. Have some fresh mont blanc tart.” Trey had cut them each a piece of the smaller mont blanc tart, the white plates christening the beautiful slices with cute silver forks on the plates as a set. As everyone celebrates with the treat in front of them, Grim exclaims, “It smells so good and sweet. The chestnut on top is glistening and the cream is so fluffy! Get in my tummy-dazo!” As everyone digs their fork into the mont blanc tart and brings it to their mouths, Yuu pauses as she stares at the bite on her fork. All around her everyone was commenting on the taste (with Grim being the unofficial food critic of the mix), she debates for a brief moment before noticing that Trey was looking at her questioningly and she finally brings herself to take that bite. She slowly chews through the flaky crust, and lets her taste pallet have the full experience of the creamy yet deep taste of the chestnuts seeping all around before swallowing. 

“It tastes...sweet.” 

“Sweet!? Is that all you have to say Yuu!? Is your pallet that terrible-dazo?!” Grim shouts in surprise, and she lifts up her arms in surrender, “Hey, I don’t really have a comparison so give me a break.” 

“Wait, was this your first time eating a mont blanc tart?” Ace asked disbelievingly as she nodded. The rest of their group seemed surprised at this as well, but thankfully Cater spoke up,

“Oh yeah. Trey-kun, can you do the thing?” 

“Hm? Oh, the thing.” The two third years seem to understand what this ‘thing’ is, as the first years stand there with one eyebrow lifted in confusion.

“You guys, what are your favorite foods?” 

“I like cherry pies and hamburgers.”

“I like tuna cans-dazo! And cheese omelette, grilled beef, pudding…”

“I guess omurice, if I had to pick.” 

“I like grilled lamb with diavolo sauce.” In order, Ace, Grim, Deuce and Cater respond to Trey’s question and Yuu had to think for a moment before responding with, 

“Strawberries,” she notices that Trey's eyes widen slightly at this information before coughing once. 

“Alright then. _Doodle Suit!_ ” As Trey flicks his magical pen, their slices of tart shimmer for a split second before fading away. “Now, go ahead and try another bite.” The group nods at the instruction, and takes another bite of the aforementioned tart. However, as Yuu cautiously bit into her tart, she is surprised as the taste of chestnuts didn’t fill her mouth, but instead the juicy, slightly tangy taste of strawberries fill her mouth. 

“Hm? Hmmm? My tart tastes like cherry pies!”

“Nom… this tastes like tuna cans-dazo! Om nom… this time it’s cheese omelette!! Nom… grilled chicken and… and pudding!!” It seemed like it wasn’t just her that was having the same experience, as everyone seemed to be tasting their aforementioned favorite foods from what was clearly their homemade mont blanc tart. 

“Isn’t this great? Don’t you think this would totally do well on dates?” Her eyebrow lifts at Cater's suggestion, though she did have to admit that it would definitely be an interesting conversation starter.

“Wow. Clover-senpai, is your Unique Magic changing flavors?” Yuu’s ears perk up at the mention of unique magic; it seemed like unique magic was one of those particular magics that always involved a spoken spell. 

“Well, if we’re going to be exact, it’s an ‘overwriting spell’. For a short time, I can overwrite any given property, like color or smell. So, this time I overwrote the taste of the tart with ‘the taste of your favorite foods.’ It doesn’t last long, so I call this spell a ‘doodle’.” The group nods in understanding as they continue to eat the mont blanc tart with the taste of their favorite food in their mouths. Yuu, who had been hesitant earlier with the previously unknown food, was able to sneak another bite or two before handing the rest of the tart to Grim. It was instantaneously inhaled.

“So it would be actually possible to eat tuna cans forever with Trey’s ‘Doodle Suit’? It’s a lot cooler than meanie Riddle’s magic!” Though Grim meant that as praise, Yuu could tell something shifted in Trey’s expression. His golden eyes shift to the left as his smile turns serious.

“No, my magic is child’s play compared to the dorm leader’s,” his tone dropped a level, but Yuu was only able to contemplate for a brief moment before Trey’s easy smile returned. “Now, why don’t we give the mont blanc tart to the dorm leader tomorrow at the Unbirthday party and call it a night? Don’t be late.” 

“Yuu~, what’s for dinner?” Ace grumbled as he laid his head back down on the kitchen counter, clearly exhausted. As she tells him it’s going to be grilled salmon with caprese salad, Cater looked over at Ace with a surprised expression, 

“Wait, you’re spending the night at Yuu-chan’s place?!”

“Yeah, both of us are,” Ace points to himself then to Deuce, “since some mean senpai aren’t letting me back in.” 

“Wow, that’s not a pointed comment _at_ _all,_ ” Cater laughs wryly before turning to her, “Yuu-chan! Can I spend the night there as well?” 

“No, you can’t Cater.”

“Trey-kun, so mean~” Trey laughs a little at Cater’s expression before turning to her. “Thanks for taking care of these two for the past few days. Here, take this - this should cover their food expense.” Though Yuu vehemently shook her head to refuse the few madol bills, she ended up losing to Trey’s pressure of the options being take the bills or _take the bills_. 

As the four of them bid the third years goodbye and head back to the Ramshackle Dorm, Yuu couldn’t help that, while she hoped that tomorrow would go smoothly and Ace and Deuce could go back to their dorm, that they would sometimes still come over to eat dinner with Grim and her. She smiles quietly to herself as the boys argue in front of her about something mundane, looking forward to seeing their pleased expressions around the dorm's dinner table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please go listen to CAFUNE piano, they have amazing arrangements of Disney songs and it’s absolutely marvelous. Here’s the link to the Painting the Roses Red “Villianified'' that they played that I imagine Yuu played to the three members of Light Music Club. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFjt0kGTk_c&t=4s


End file.
